#and Economic Security Act (2020)

[ladybugmania]

BE AWARE: HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF

Trump & Hitler Compared

Comparison 1: Nationalism and Scapegoating Minorities

Hitler (1930s Germany):

Hitler’s rhetoric emphasized an ethnically pure German identity and national rebirth, exploiting economic despair and cultural anxiety following WWI. He blamed Jews, communists, and other minority groups for Germany’s defeat and economic troubles. The Nuremberg Laws institutionalized racial discrimination, stripping Jews of their rights as citizens.

Trump and the GOP (2015–Present):

Trump has repeatedly used xenophobic and racially charged language, calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and proposing a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. His administration instituted the Muslim ban, attempted to eliminate DACA, and enacted family separation at the border. Republican-backed state laws increasingly target immigrants and minority voters, using the guise of security or voter integrity, echoing exclusionary policies of the past.

Comparison 2: Undermining Democratic Institutions

Hitler:

After becoming Chancellor, Hitler manipulated the Reichstag Fire in 1933 to invoke emergency powers. The Enabling Act gave him the authority to legislate without parliamentary consent, effectively dismantling democracy. He repeatedly painted political opponents as traitors or enemies of the state.

Trump and the GOP:

After losing the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede, launched dozens of baseless legal challenges, and incited the January 6 insurrection—an unprecedented attack on the peaceful transfer of power. He and his allies have labeled political opponents as “deep state,” “communists,” or “enemies,” aiming to delegitimize dissent and create a hostile political climate. Many GOP figures continue to downplay or deny the events of January 6, paralleling historical patterns of rewriting or ignoring threats to democracy.

Comparison 3: Control of Media and Disinformation

Hitler:

Joseph Goebbels led the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, controlling all media, art, and public messaging. The regime spread disinformation, suppressed dissenting voices, and crafted a narrative that glorified the regime while demonizing its enemies.

Trump and the GOP:

Trump labeled mainstream media “the enemy of the people,” a term used by authoritarian regimes to delegitimize journalism. He and GOP-aligned media outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN have been pivotal in spreading conspiracy theories (e.g., QAnon, election fraud), while vilifying fact-based reporting. This creates an alternate reality for supporters and undermines trust in factual information, similar to propaganda methods used by authoritarian regimes.

Comparison 4: Cult of Personality and Loyalty Above Law

Hitler:

The Nazi regime revolved around the Führerprinzip—absolute loyalty to Hitler. Personal loyalty to him was expected above all else, including law, ethics, or reason. Independent institutions were absorbed or dismantled.

Trump:

Trump demands personal loyalty from public officials, often attacking or firing those who disagree with him (e.g., FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or military leaders). Loyalty to Trump—not the Constitution or democratic norms—has become a defining feature of many in the GOP. Those who criticized his actions, including former allies, are frequently branded as traitors or RINOs (“Republicans In Name Only”).

Comparison 5: Militarization of Patriotism and Law Enforcement

Hitler:

The SA (Sturmabteilung) and later the SS were paramilitary forces used to intimidate opposition, enforce Nazi ideology, and maintain “order.” Hitler used them to blur the line between state power and partisan violence.

Trump and the GOP:

During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Trump deployed federal agents (often unmarked) to suppress demonstrations, particularly in Portland, Oregon. He encouraged violent responses to protesters, infamously saying, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Some extremist groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and others that support Trump have acted as quasi-paramilitary forces—prominent among those who stormed the Capitol.

Conclusion:

While the U.S. remains a functioning democracy, the parallels between Hitler’s authoritarian rise and the tactics employed by Donald Trump and elements of the Republican Party are real and well-documented. They include:

Scapegoating and demonizing minorities

Discrediting democratic institutions

Spreading propaganda and disinformation

Fostering a cult of personality

Encouraging or ignoring political violence

These tactics, if unchecked, threaten the foundations of democratic society—just as they did in 1930s Germany. As history shows, democracies often crumble not from external attack, but from internal erosion.

Be Aware: History will repeat. This has happened in the past and it can happen again.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

stick with me baby.. @FinancialReview :: [Dave]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 3, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 04, 2025

As seemed evident even at the time, the ambush of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday was a setup to provide justification for cutting off congressionally approved aid to Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russia’s invasion. That “impoundment” of funds Congress has determined should go to Ukraine is illegal under the terms of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, and it is unconstitutional because the Constitution gives to Congress, not to the president, the power to set government spending and to make laws. The president’s job is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

It was for a similar impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds for Ukraine, holding them back until Zelensky agreed to tilt the 2020 election by smearing Joe Biden, that the House of Representatives impeached Trump in 2019. It is not hard to imagine that Trump chose to repeat that performance, in public this time, as a demonstration of his determination to act as he wishes regardless of laws and Constitution.

On Sunday, Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a series of memos he and other senior career officials had written, recording in detail how the cuts to “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” at the agency will lead to “preventable death” and make the U.S. less safe. The cuts will “no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” one memo read.

Enrich estimated that without USAID intervention, more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns would not get medical care; more than 14 million children would not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children would be paralyzed with polio; and 1 million children would not be treated for severe acute malnutrition. There would be an additional 12.5 million or more cases of malaria this year, meaning 71,000 to 166,000 deaths; a 28–32% increase in tuberculosis; as many as 775 million cases of avian flu; 2.3 million additional deaths a year in children who could not be vaccinated against diseases; additional cases of Ebola and mpox. The higher rates of illness will take a toll on economic development in developing countries, and both the diseases and the economic stagnation will spill over into the United States.

Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised to create a system for waivers to protect that lifesaving aid, the cuts appear random and the system for reversing them remains unworkable. The programs remain shuttered. Enrich blamed "political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE, who have created and continue to create intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation."

On Sunday, Enrich sent another memo to staff, thanking them for their work and telling them he had been placed on “administrative leave, effective immediately.”

Dangerous cuts are taking place in the United States, as well. On Friday, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk called Social Security, the basis of the U.S. social safety net, a “Ponzi scheme.” Also on Friday, the Social Security Administration announced that it will consolidate the current ten regional offices it maintains into four and cut at least 7,000 jobs from an agency that is already at a 50-year staffing low. Erich Wagner of Government Executive reported that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) team had canceled the leases for 45 of the agency’s field offices and is urging employees to quit.

The acting commissioner of the agency, Leland Dudek, a mid-level staffer who got his post after sharing sensitive information with DOGE, blamed former president Joe Biden for the cuts. In contrast, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) pointed out that the system currently delivers 99.7% of retirement benefits accurately and on time. He warned that the administration is hollowing it out, and when it can no longer function, Republicans will say it needs the private sector to take it over. He called the cuts “a prelude to privatization.”

“The public is going to suffer terribly as a result of this,” a senior official told NPR. “Local field offices will close, hold times will increase, and people will be sicker, hungry, or die when checks don't arrive or a disability hearing is delayed just one month too late.”

In South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, more than 200 wildfires began to burn over the weekend as dry conditions and high winds drove the flames. Firefighters from the Forest Service helped to contain the fires, but they were understaffed even before Trump took office. Now, with the new cuts to the service, prevention measures are impossible and there aren’t enough people to fight fires effectively and safely. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster (R) declared a state of emergency on Sunday.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo picked up something many of us missed, posting today that Trump’s February 11 “workforce optimization” executive order is a clear blueprint for the end goal of all the cuts to the federal government. The order says that departments and agencies must plan to cut all functions and employees who are not designated as essential during a government shutdown. As Marshall notes, this is basically a blueprint for a skeleton crew version of government.

But for all that the administration, led by DOGE, insists that the U.S. has no money for the government services that help ordinary people, it appears to think there is plenty of money to help wealthy supporters. In February, the cryptocurrency bitcoin experienced its biggest monthly drop since June 2022, falling by 17.5%. On Sunday, in a post on his social media site, Trump announced that the government will create a strategic stockpile of five cryptocurrencies, spending tax dollars to buy them.

Supporters say that such an investment could pay off in decades, when that currency has appreciated to become worth trillions of dollars. But, as Zachary B. Wolf of CNN notes, “for every bitcoin evangelist, there is an academic or banker from across the political spectrum who will point out that cryptocurrency investments might just as easily go up in smoke, which would be an unfortunate thing to happen to taxpayer dollars.”

The first three currencies Trump announced were not well known, and the announcement sent their prices soaring. Hours later, he added the names of the two biggest cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. After the initial surges, by Monday prices for the currencies had fallen roughly back to where they had been before the announcement, making the announcement look like a pump-and-dump scheme. Economist Peter Schiff, a Trump supporter, called for a full congressional investigation, suggesting that someone other than Trump might have written the social media posts that set off the frenzy and wondering who was buying and selling in that short window of time.

Also on Sunday, the administration announced it would stop enforcing anti-money-laundering laws that were put in place over Trump’s veto in 2021 at the end of his first term and required shell companies to identify the people who own or control them. Referring to the law as a “Biden rule,” Trump called the announcement that he would not enforce it “Exciting News!” The Trump Organization frequently uses shell companies.

A world in which the government does not regulate business or address social welfare or infrastructure, claiming instead to promote economic development by funneling resources to wealthy business leaders, looks much like the late-nineteenth-century world that Trump praises. Trump insists that President William McKinley, who was president from 1897 to 1901, created the nation’s most prosperous era by imposing high tariffs on products from foreign countries.

Trump confirmed today that he will go forward with his own 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on goods from China, adding to the 10% tariffs Trump added to Chinese products in February. While President Joe Biden maintained tariffs on only certain products from China to protect specific industries, it appears Trump’s tariffs will cover all products.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada called the tariffs “unjustified” and announced that Canada will put retaliatory tariffs on $20.8 billion worth of U.S. products made primarily in Republican-dominated states, including spirits, beer, wine, cosmetics, appliances, orange juice, peanut butter, clothing, footwear, and paper. A second set of tariffs in a few weeks will target about $90 billion worth of products, including cars and trucks, EVs, products made of steel and aluminum, fruits and vegetables, beef, pork, and dairy products.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum did not provide details of what her country would do but told reporters today: “We have a plan B, C, D.” Chinese officials say that China, too, will impose retaliatory tariffs, singling out agricultural products and placing tariffs of 15% on corn and 10% on soybeans. It also says it will restrict exports to 15 U.S. companies.

The tariffs in place in the U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century were less important for the explosive growth of the economy in that era than the flood of foreign capital into private businesses: railroad, mining, cattle, department stores, and finance. By the end of the century, investing in America was such a busy trade that the London Stock Exchange had a separate section for American railroad transactions alone.

And the economic growth of the country did not help everyone equally. While industrialists like Cornelius Vanderbilt II could build 70-room summer homes in Newport, Rhode Island, the workers whose labor kept the mines and factories producing toiled fourteen to sixteen hours a day in dangerous conditions for little money, with no workmen’s compensation or disability insurance if they were injured. The era has become known as the Gilded Age, dominated by so-called robber barons.

Today, the stock market dropped dramatically upon news that Trump intended to go through with his tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 650 points, down 1.48%. The S&P fell 1.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite, which focuses on technology stocks, fell 2.64%. Meanwhile, shares of European defense companies jumped to record highs as Europe moves to replace the U.S. support for Ukraine.

Also today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a dramatic contraction in the economy in the first quarter of 2025. Evaluating current data according to a mathematical model, it moved from an expected 2.9% growth in gross domestic product at the end of January to –2.8% today. That is just a prediction and there is still room for those numbers to turn around, but they might help to explain why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Betsy Ladyzhets

Since early in the pandemic, people with Long COVID have faced challenges in applying for disability benefits, including from their employers, insurance providers, and the U.S. Social Security Administration. Applications often take a long time and are denied even for people who clearly have debilitating symptoms, leading to years-long, arduous appeals processes. The same has been true decades prior to 2020 for people with other infection-associated chronic diseases.

To learn more about the disability insurance system, Betsy Ladyzhets spoke to Barbara Comerford, a long-time disability lawyer based in New Jersey who specializes in these cases. Comerford has represented people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS), for more than 30 years, including high-profile cases like that of journalist Brian Vastag.

Comerford discussed how the process works, her advice for putting together applications and appeals, how Long COVID has impacted her practice, and more. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Comerford’s tips for disability benefit applications:

Comerford recommends that people applying for benefits extensively document their symptoms. Medical tests such as neuropsychiatric testing and cardiopulmonary exercise testing are her recommended method for documentation, though she acknowledges that these tests can be expensive. Comerford suggests that applicants should be careful to find lawyers and medical providers who have experience with these cases and won’t dismiss their symptoms. During the appeals process, Comerford recommends requesting a company’s administrative record and combing through it for any evidence that they abused judgement, cherry-picked evidence, or made other errors in assessing the case. Make sure to follow deadlines for filing appeals, as cases are closed if documents are not submitted on time.

Barbara Comerford: Should we focus on disability insurance, or do you want to focus on social security disability, or both?

Betsy Ladyzhets: Both, because people [with Long COVID] are applying for both.

BC: Right. And often, people think they should only apply for one, [but they should apply for both.]

Most of the disability plans that people have are often through their employer. Those plans are known as ERISA plans, that refers to Employee Retirement Income Security Act. It was created in the 1970s… Congress created this regulatory scheme, and then immediately created a zillion loopholes that corporations can drive a truck through. Later, ERISA covered all employee benefits in general.

Insurance companies wound up selling policies to corporations saying, “You can get the best people if you offer incentives.” And what’s a better incentive than, if someone gets sick, they can collect a substantial percentage of their salary until full retirement age? These are the sorts of perks that… People think, “If something happens to me, I’ll be protected.” The promise of these policies is that they will give people, usually, between 50% and 80% of their pre-disability income if they satisfy the requirements. Well, that’s a big if.

I’ve been doing this for 38 years. And I can tell you that 38 years ago, these [disability claims] were not problem cases. I used to do them for free for my litigation clients… But over the years, and really starting after 2001 with September 11, all hell broke loose. They [insurance companies] began to get very aggressive. Every time there is an economic downfall, whatever it is, they get extremely aggressive. So you can imagine, with the onset of the pandemic, they knew what was coming.

I did, for many years, advocacy for ME/CFS cases. I represented thousands of people… A lot of my colleagues say, “Long COVID social security cases are almost impossible,” because they don’t know what to do with them. My office hasn’t found that to be the case. I think the difference is, you have to document these cases with as much objective documentation of symptoms that people have… Get neuropsych testing, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and other tests.

I started doing webinars and seminars [about disability benefit applications] in 2020, because I knew this was coming. At that point, they weren’t calling it Long COVID, they were just saying, some people with COVID weren’t getting better. But I knew it was going to turn into another ME/CFS disaster.

BL: How have you found the rise of Long COVID has impacted your practice? Do you find you’re more in demand now?

BC: We’ve always had a high volume of cases. Quite a few of them were ME/CFS cases. We did a case, Vastag v. Prudential, in 2018. Brian Vastag, who was a science writer for The Washington Post, was my client, and I could not get over how aggressively Prudential was just dismissing him because it was an ME/CFS case.

And the same is happening with Long COVID. We do cases all over the country on Long COVID and ME/CFS. It’s my livelihood, so it’s important for me, but it also makes me a little crazy that people get treated the way they do and that they have to hire people like me.

One of the things that people get upset about is that they have to spend money to medically document their symptoms. And worse than that… I see these Long COVID clinics, with doctors who are completely ignorant on Long COVID, who surreptitiously write notes in the chart that they think it’s a psychiatric case. I don’t know how familiar you are with this.

BL: Unfortunately, I’m very familiar.

BC: It’s awful. Not only is it really hard on my clients… It triggers them to read things that might not be what they said or might not be pleasant. And the number of times that I have seen that and it has sabotaged cases! I have to reconstruct the cases and have the clients contact the clinic [and get them to make corrections].

Mental/nervous limitations exist in all of these [insurance] policies… They can limit someone’s payments to two years if the case is a psychiatric case or mental/nervous limitation with a DSM diagnosis.

BL: I wanted to ask also — there’s been a lot of research on Long COVID at this point, and there was a report this summer from the National Academies specifically in response to a request from the Social Security Administration about Long COVID as a disability, in which they found that this disease can result in inability to work, poor quality of life, all that stuff. Have you seen that report, or other research, like the growing body of research on these diseases, have an impact?

BC: I was asked to comment on that [report]. Part of the problem with Social Security’s initiatives in this regard is that every social security case goes through what they call “sequential evaluation process.” You have to go through five steps to determine whether or not someone’s disabled. And among those steps is [matching people to a “medical listing of impairments,” but the list doesn’t include major symptoms for ME/CFS and similar diseases].

Years ago, there was a ME/CFS ruling called 99-2p. It offered guidelines [for ME/CFS cases that don’t fit the typical Social Security process]. After that, I was asked to present to the national association of Social Security judges, there were 500 judges in the audience. And I asked, “By show of hands, how many of you are familiar with 99-2p?” Two hands went up.

Despite the guidelines, in practice, [the judges aren’t familiar with these diseases]. Until there is a time when we can come up with a firm diagnostic criteria for Long COVID, and we can say, “This is what you have to document for this illness.” … And it can’t just be a positive COVID test, because many people got sick before testing was prevalent or they got sick after people stopped documenting that they were positive.

The other problem for Long COVID cases is it’s not like cancer or a broken leg or herniated disc or something that people are accustomed to. Those people are not told they’re crazy. Those people are not told they’re imagining it. Those people are not told, “Well, we just don’t buy it.” This is what happens with [Long COVID] and ME/CFS. The psych component that they try to pigeonhole these cases into is really a master stroke by the insurance industry that spends billions of dollars trying to persuade people that anyone who files for these benefits is a crook or fraud.

BL: It’s infuriating, especially when you see how deeply people’s quality of life is impacted by these diseases.

BC: Yes, every part of their life is impacted.

BL: I see what you’re saying about needing diagnostic criteria. In this time where we don’t have that yet, what would you want to see the Social Security Administration or other government agencies do to make it easier for all these people who are applying for benefits with Long COVID and ME/CFS?

BC: They should [reevaluate] the sequential evaluation process, which has been there forever, and look at medically determinable impairment in the context of Long COVID and ME/CFS. These diseases can be documented by things like neuropsych testing.

I’ll quickly go through the five-step sequential evaluation process. The first step is, “Is the person engaged in substantial gainful activity?” That is something you can do predictably, something that will last at least 12 months, and something that leads to gainful work, where you get paid and you can report for a job either part-time or full-time. In Long COVID cases… you have to document that this person is not engaged in substantial gainful activity because they don’t know tomorrow if they’re going to be able to get up and get out of bed and take shower, never mind report for work.

If you satisfy step one, they go to step two. There, they ask, “Do you have the ability, in light of your disability, to perform basic work-related activity?” Sitting, standing, reaching, pushing, pulling, reading, concentrating, things of that nature. And, “Does the disability negatively impact your ability to do these things?” [You need medical evidence, which can come from] a physician’s evaluation from a Long COVID clinic, for example.

If you have that, you go to step three, which is where that horrible “medically determinable impairment” crap comes in. There isn’t {a specific listing} yet for Long COVID, although they’re talking about it. Frankly, we’re still waiting for them to do one for ME/CFS, so I’m not holding my breath. That’s the only step in the process where, if they don’t satisfy it, you can still move on to the next step.

The fourth step is, “Is this person capable of performing the work that they performed for the last five years?” Until June of this year, it was the last 15 years… So we go through each job they had, all their symptoms and limitations and why they can’t do [the job anymore]. If we document successfully that they can’t perform their past relevant work for the last five years as a result of their disability, we can then go to step five.

Step five, the burden shifts to the Social Security Administration. Social Security has to document that, in light of a person’s age, education, and work experience, that there is no work in the national economy that they could perform. [To do this], Social Security has a big graph called the “medical vocational guidelines.” And essentially, the younger you are, the more skills you have, the more education you have, and the more skills that are transferable, generally you are found not disabled. But the graph is not supposed to be used for cases that involve what we call non-exertional and exertional complaints together. Pain, fatigue, things of that nature are all part of the non-exertional limitation.

That is how we lift ME/CFS and Long COVID cases out of that graph. Despite the fact that many of our clients are very young, many of them are highly educated, many of them have developed skills that are not only transferable, but are also in high demand in the national economy — [we say that] because they can’t predictably perform sustained work of any kind, the grid should not be used to find them not disabled. But with all of this, every one of these cases, medical documentation of limitations is crucial. I can’t emphasize that enough.

BL: I know a lot of people in Long COVID community, they’ve already sent in their applications, and then it gets denied, and then they have to appeal. What is that process like, and how would you suggest people go about finding someone like you?

BC: It’s really important to do some research. You want to know if the doctor or attorney you’re dealing with has experience in these cases… I do [webinars and one-on-one education] for lawyers all the time, because I’d rather them hear what has to be done, and understand what happens if they don’t do it.

If I’m giving people advice on appeals… If it’s coming from a United States employer, you’re going to be governed by ERISA. That’s important because people might file a claim without knowing the exact company policy. Despite the fact that federal regulations require employers to give that information to employees, when someone gets sick and files a [short-term] disability claim, they are immediately cut off from the employee benefits portal [that has all the exact policy information]. So then I’ve got to write a letter to the employers, and fight to get that information.

You can’t even get discovery in these cases… Sometimes they will award benefits, and then six months in they’ll say, “We no longer believe you’re disabled.” Under ERISA, [employers and insurance companies] get all the advantages.

BL: It seems like people should know, if you’re filing against an employer, to save that policy information before you lose access to it.

BC: When you get the notice of a denial, you can request a complete copy of the administrative record. You are entitled to see everything that the insurance company had on the case, and under federal regulations, they have 30 days to produce it.

And then you have 180 days to appeal that [denial]. People say that’s a long time. It’s really not. Because you’ve got to go through thousands of pages of documents. You’ve got to document where they abuse their discretion. It’s not enough to have medical evidence… [The standard you have to push back on is that] the insurance company or the employer has a “reason” to deny the claim.

The lawyer’s job or the claimant’s job is to show all the examples they found in the administrative record that show [mistakes or poor judgement on the part of the insurance company or employer]… Sometimes, you will see reports of experts that they’ve retained to review the case, and the expert will say, “I think it’s a payable claim.” And then the next thing you find is them looking for another doctor who’s a little more receptive to their suggestions. If we see they’ve ignored the opinion of one of their experts, that’s an example of abuse of discretion and arbitrary, capricious conduct. Cherry picking the evidence is another thing you often see in these cases.

BL: So it’s not just sending your own medical records, you have to show that the company has messed up.

BC: The insurance company or the employer, whoever is paying, you have to show that they abused their discretion.

BL: Is there anything else, any other advice or resources you would give people?

BC: This is really important. If it’s an ERISA case and they do not get that appeal in within 180 days, they’re foreclosed from pursuing it any further… [It’s a big mistake] if you blow those time deadlines.

All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.

[shakertwelve]

Can I ask what part of canon+legends is giving you anguish?

i got attached to the naboo because i like women and what little we see of padmé with her handmaidens and the culture they come from is intriguing, so i read the canon stuff about them (the 2019-2022 queen's trilogy novels + 2020-2024 darth vader comic series) and then went back to see what legends had to say about the politics of the naboo (2012 darth plagueis novel) and was dissatisfied with much of it. [youtuber voice] here's why

every throwaway detail about naboo in the films implies a society with profound, soul-rotting problems—the gungans being driven off their native land with no representation in the republic until tpm, the prison labor moon colonies that apparently have frequent enough strikes and rebellions that "it was probably just the miners acting up again" is offered as a likely explanation for the assassination attempt on padmé at the start of aotc, the fact that this is a society that has child rulers and expects them to be at such risk of assassination that they need to develop elaborate protection protocols and that the solution to that problem is to throw less important children in the line of fire instead. it's a society where they dress the queen up like a doll and sit her on a throne that's been hollowed out to hide blasters inside. which makes perfect sense in tpm, because it's the audience's introduction to what the galaxy is like under the late republic: a veneer of peace and justice that's been stretched too thin for too long and is now breaking down into outright violence.

in aotc, though, the role naboo plays in george lucas' vision is as an idyllic fantasy backdrop for anakin and padmé's romance, so it has to be as peaceful and uncomplicated as possible in contrast to the political intrigue we see on coruscant. padmé's family are supposed to be ordinary civilians, but now they own a priceless historic villa as a private vacation home just so it can be the stage they fall in love on. this is the impression of naboo that e.k. johnston's queen's trilogy (canon novels) is mostly building on; it's portrayed as a "planet of artists" where everyone's profession is making stained glass murals or tailoring fine gowns or something. the novels reveal that rabé was recruited as a handmaiden (i.e. a human shield) under threat of incarceration (i.e. moon labor camp) because she committed the crime of art forgery, but they have to say that she just did that because she was bored, not as a result of any actual economic pressures, because if anyone is actually poor or working to survive it ruins the fantasy. the extensive security measures around the queen are chalked up to being a consequence of captain panaka's personal paranoias, which just happen to be justified during the invasion, with little bearing on what naboo is normally like. i don't mind that the queen's trilogy exists, as otherwise we'd have no elaboration on the relationship between padmé and her handmaidens at all, and i'm sure there are gay teen girls out there reading it who find johnston's portrayal of naboo as a queernorm wish fulfillment setting comforting, but for me personally it sucks. it feels like a tourist brochure, not a real place.

(after this i picked up the darth vader comic run because i knew the handmaidens were in it and there were some cool pictures but it was obvious that the creators were working from a very brief summary of the queen's trilogy, i didn't really like the way they drew or wrote the characters, and it was overall not a very well-constructed story. sad!)

darth plagueis (legends novel) is more willing to admit that violence happens on naboo than the queen's trilogy novels were, but naboo society doesn't get much detail beyond what's necessary to establish sidious' origins and rise to power, and you get the impression that james luceno is a lot more passionate about hewing close to old republic era sith lore than the world of the prequels. for one thing, luceno clearly imagines a galaxy where almost everyone of relevance is a man, which feels...odd, when all three of the rulers of naboo seen in the films are women. several of the details he throws in about how the term limits and election process work are explicitly contradicted by padmé in aotc, seemingly because he just didn't care enough to check if the stuff he made up was plausible or not. i also don't really like the choice to establish that previous rulers used their given names and it's just padmé who decided to take a regnal name for some reason; it's never explicitly confirmed one way or another in the films but i feel like we're supposed to understand the sinospheric regnal naming as part of the wider oriental imagery around the naboo. also this is petty but luceno doesn't know the difference between "noble" and "royal".

i also looked at a bunch of encyclopedias and rpg handbooks with entries for naboo and there were plently more baffling worldbuilding choices in there. it's been 3800 years since the human ancestors of the naboo arrived from grizmallt but we're supposed to believe that the difference between their languages and cultures is equivalent to like, spanish vs portuguese. the canonical alphabet sucks so bad i redesigned it from scratch even though i'm more of a conlanger than a neographer. the depiction of the gungans is already racist enough in tpm but both legends and canon make it worse by specifying that their monuments and holy places were built not by them but by an "ancient reptilian alien race" (!!) that they worshipped as gods. what are we doing here

edit: ALSO THE SUCCESSION TIMELINE DOESN'T WORK IN LEGENDS OR CANON BUT I CAN FIX IT i have a spreadsheet where i'm trying to fix it. i'm also trying to fix the world map and wrangle the naboo words we get into a coherent language but those are their own beasts

[reality-detective]

DJT's EXECUTIVE ORDERS

13818

● Confiscated private and corporate assets

● Seized the NYSE

● Blocking the property of those involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption, human trafficking.

13848

● 13848 imposes certain sanctions in the event of foreign interference in any of the United States choices.

13959

● Maintain American leadership in artificial intelligence

Khazarian assets confiscated

● Among the top 3 executive orders - many DS assets were confiscated and DS Agents reversed

○ 13818, 13848 and 13959

● The Space Force has EVERYTHING under control!

● DS money will be used up quickly

● All DS gold has already been confiscated (Vatican etc.)

● Wall Street, Washington DC, Vatican and City of London - all dead

● OPERATION: DEFEND EUROPE. This started March 17th 2020 and takes over the Vatican, it's the mafia and it's seizing all the Rothschilds central banks

● Brexit has severed the Vatican's ropes and stripped the Royals of all assets

● We're going to Tesla and metals instead of oil and gas

GESARA – Global Economic Security and Reform Act

● It should be implemented on 10/11/2001. Stopped by the Khazarian false flag event on 9/11

● Elimination of the national debt of all nations of the world

● No taxes. Only a fixed sales tax of around 15% on new goods

● Waiving of mortgages and other bank departments due to illegal government activities

● Back to constitutional law - get rid of the corrupt law of the sea

● Newly elected leaders - only 10% of current governments

● World peace for 1,000 years

● Eliminate all current and future nuclear weapons on planet earth

● Gold Standard!

● Introduction of new hidden technologies - 6,000 Tesla patents. free energy

● Build and rebuild in all countries at 1950s prices

● The power back to We The People. Global distribution of wealth

● Odin project = World EBS (Emergency Broadcast System)

[tomorrowusa]

Four years ago today (March 13th), then President Donald Trump got around to declaring a national state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration had been downplaying the danger to the United States for 51 days since the first US infection was confirmed on January 22nd.

From an ABC News article dated 25 February 2020...

CDC warns Americans of 'significant disruption' from coronavirus

Until now, health officials said they'd hoped to prevent community spread in the United States. But following community transmissions in Italy, Iran and South Korea, health officials believe the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a "significant disruption." This comes in contrast to statements from the Trump administration. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday the threat to the United States from coronavirus "remains low," despite the White House seeking $1.25 billion in emergency funding to combat the virus. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC’s Kelly Evans on “The Exchange” Tuesday evening, "We have contained the virus very well here in the U.S." [ ... ] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request "long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency." She also accused President Trump of leaving "critical positions in charge of managing pandemics at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security vacant." "The president's most recent budget called for slashing funding for the Centers for Disease Control, which is on the front lines of this emergency. And now, he is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check," Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Our state and local governments need serious funding to be ready to respond effectively to any outbreak in the United States. The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities." She added that lawmakers in the House of Representatives "will swiftly advance a strong, strategic funding package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called the Trump administration's request "too little too late." "That President Trump is trying to steal funds dedicated to fight Ebola -- which is still considered an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- is indicative of his towering incompetence and further proof that he and his administration aren't taking the coronavirus crisis as seriously as they need to be," Schumer said in a statement.

A reminder that Trump had been leaving many positions vacant – part of a Republican strategy to undermine the federal government.

Here's a picture from that ABC piece from a nearly empty restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. The screen displays a Trump tweet still downplaying COVID-19 with him seeming more concerned about the effect of the Dow Jones on his re-election bid.

People were not buying Trump's claims but they were buying PPE.

I took this picture at CVS on February 26th that year.

The stock market which Trump in his February tweet claimed looked "very good" was tanking on March 12th – the day before his state of emergency declaration.

Trump succeeded in sending the US economy into recession much faster than George W. Bush did at the end of his term – quite a feat!. (As an aside, every recession in the US since 1981 has been triggered by Republican presidents.)

Of course Trump never stopped trying to downplay the pandemic nor did he ever take responsibility for it. The US ended up with the highest per capita death rate of any technologically advanced country.

Precious time was lost while Trump dawdled. Orange on this map indicates COVID infections while red indicates COVID deaths. At the time Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus had already spread to 49 states.

The United States could have done far better and it certainly had the tools to do so.

The Obama administration had limited the number of US cases of Ebola to under one dozen during that pandemic in the 2010s. Based on their success, they compiled a guide on how the federal government could limit future pandemics.

Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm

Of course Trump ignored it.

Unlike those boxes of nuclear secrets in Trump's bathroom, the Obama pandemic limitation document is not classified. Anybody can read it – even if Trump didn't. This copy comes from the Stanford University Libraries.

TOWARDS EPIDEMIC PREDICTION: FEDERAL EFFORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUTBREAK MODELING

Feel free to share this post with anybody who still feels nostalgic about the Trump White House years!

[mariacallous]

On June 24, at 6:50 A.M., Donald Trump posted a message on Truth Social that might otherwise have been reserved for a diplomatic cable or at least a highly secure phone line: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS . . . IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION.” He signed the post, continuing in all caps, “DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES” (as if, in a post from his personal account, on a social network that he created, there could be any doubt). This was after he had bombed nuclear sites in Iran, on June 21st, an action that he also trumpeted on Truth Social, and it was after he had, more or less unilaterally, announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, theoretically bringing Israel’s recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear-development program to a halt. So far, the ceasefire has largely held, thanks in part, perhaps, to Trump’s continued real-time posting about the conflict, a rare show of focus from the scattered President. On June 27th, Trump was still posting, now to complain about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s boasts about the war’s outcome: “I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!’ ”

Discussing military secrets, undertaking diplomatic negotiations, making economic threats—no aspect of governing seems too high level for Trump not to publish it on the internet. (In the posts about Khamenei, Trump claimed that Israel had been preparing one last major attack, before he stepped in.) The posts seem to constitute not only the broadcasting of policy decisions but, more alarmingly, the decisions themselves. Social media isn’t just politicized; it is the politics. On June 19th, Trump said that he would reserve two weeks in which to decide whether to bomb Iran; he took action much faster than that and, once the bombing was done, he put the news about it on Truth Social immediately, the way one might post a photo of a just-cooked meal on Instagram, while it’s still steaming. Comparing a bombing campaign to a proud food gram might seem to minimize the act of violence, but such is the effect of Trump’s posts: they compress world-shaking events into a few hundred characters. In his first term as President, Trump was known for using Twitter to broadcast his ire. In 2018, he tweeted that his “Nuclear Button” was bigger than Kim Jong Un’s. But Trump is now using Truth Social even more ferociously than he used Twitter: the Washington Post recently found that the volume of his posts in the past months was three times higher than it was in the same period of his first term. The article labelled Trump an “influencer-in-chief.”

Politics have become markedly more online since Trump lost the 2020 election. The popularity of his supporters on YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts helped push him to victory in 2024. Atomized video clips have now become not just units of viral content but the digital lingua franca, helping to build politicians’ identities and communicate their ideas.

A clip of Trump cursing, off the cuff, to reporters about Israel and Iran (“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing”) is just one recent example. Several members of the second Trump Administration draw their political philosophies from the depths of internet discourse, most prominently Vice-President J. D. Vance, who follows X accounts linked to white nationalism, right-wing extremism, and race science, and who engages in online fights with his detractors on the platform. Vance’s own posts aren’t quite as dramatic as Trump’s—his account mostly features bland praise for his boss’s decisions—but Vance is still a wellspring of material for political posting. Ever since the truculent meeting between Trump, Vance, and the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in February, infantilized or bloated distortions of Vance’s face have been a popular meme, defining the digital brand of the Administration, at least for its opponents.

The Vance meme has become a political flash point in itself. In June, a twenty-one-year-old Norwegian tourist named Mads Mikkelsen was stopped at Newark Airport and interrogated about his travel plans and contacts in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents demanded that he unlock his phone and give it to them; on it, they found a meme of Vance with a bald head and childlike features. Mikkelsen was denied entry. He claimed that this was, at least in part, because they had found the meme; D.H.S. officials later disputed his story and said the reason they had declined to let Mikkelsen enter the country was that he had admitted to drug use, seemingly referencing a photo they’d discovered of him holding a pipe. Still, the justification is unconvincing: the meme was so politically potent that it had become functionally illegal, and the news of Mikkelsen’s ejection only propelled it further. Politics are so digital at this point that the images saved on your phone are seen as coterminous with your personal beliefs.

If what you post is what you believe, then unmediated posting is key to political success. Trump’s posts seem to be so unplanned that they must be authentic—such erratic capitalization couldn’t be workshopped. While Trump drops posts like ordnance from a fighter jet, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, has been embracing a different form of posting as politics. The thirty-three year-old New York State assembly member posts in accordance with his age, putting out short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram that are composed but informal, with a sense of sprezzatura that remains perhaps the last symbol of authenticity on social media. Mamdani’s videos of his walk down the length of Manhattan resemble improvised man-on-the-street documentaries; one shakily intimate clip of Mamdani running into his mother, the director Mira Nair, has more than two million views on TikTok. His social-media presence also gains momentum from collaborations with some of the most fluent of digital-native creators, including the New York podcaster and writer the Kid Mero and the writer and model Emily Ratajkowski, and the account Pop Crave.

Mamdani’s posting style emerges from the very latest generation of successful digital content: video series, or miniature TV shows, broadcast online. “Subway Takes” is a popular social-media talk show in which various subjects, from niche comedians to celebrities and major politicians, offer up an unorthodox opinion to the show’s host, Kareem Rahma, while sitting on the New York City subway; the show has more than a million followers on both Instagram and TikTok. Many of Mamdani’s videos are produced by a creative agency called Melted Solids, whose co-founder, Anthony DiMieri, co-produces “Subway Takes.” Fans of the show will find the campaign’s raw visual language and cinéma-vérité documentation—a sharp contrast to the Kamala Harris Presidential campaign’s somewhat distant, meme-heavy social-media strategy—familiar. The strategy, DiMieri recently told Adweek, is about “people spending time with him through the medium of video and seeing how authentic he actually is.” In other words, it’s about posting as often and as directly as possible, in the most real-time medium available. Mamdani could turn out to be an influencer-in-chief, too. But perhaps every future politician will have to be.

Mamdani’s self-broadcasting is less aggressive and more uplifting than Trump’s; he seduces the voting audience rather than commanding it. He identifies as a socialist, embraces a populist appeal, and calls for a shakeup to political hierarchies, yet his message essentially preserves the high-mindedness and egalitarianism of Democratic Party ideals—appealing to common humanity rather than to political divisions. Democrats have struggled to create coherent anti-Trump messaging during his second Administration. Their latest attempt was an uninspiring invitation-only Pride concert at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., which was meant to demonstrate resistance to Trump’s occupation of the culture venue, but which ended up as more of a punch line. (The event included some anti-Trump edits to “Les Misérables” lyrics.) Mamdani has channelled a sense of hope for something different. Whether this hope can withstand the compromises and calculations of actual governance will be one test of his—and perhaps the Democratic Party’s—digital-first future. They will have to follow through on their posting.

[misfitwashere]

August 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 25

The raucous roll call of states at the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, as everybody danced to DJ Cassidy’s state-themed music, Lil Jon strode down the aisle to cheers for Georgia, and different delegations boasted about their states and good-naturedly teased other delegations, brought home the real-life meaning of E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.” From then until Thursday, as a sea of American flags waved and attendees joyfully chanted “USA, USA, USA,” the convention welcomed a new vision for the Democratic Party, deeply rooted in the best of traditional America. 

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, over the past three and a half years the Democrats have returned to the economic ideology of the New Deal coalition of the 1930s. This week’s convention showed that it has now gone further, recentering the vision of government that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, Frances Perkins, called upon to make it serve the interests of communities.     

When the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021, the United States was facing a deadly pandemic and the economic crash it had caused. The country also had to deal with the aftermath of the attempt of former president Donald Trump to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and seize the presidency. It appeared that many people in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, had given up on democracy. 

Biden set out to prove that democracy could work for ordinary people by ditching the neoliberalism that had been in place for forty years. That system, begun in the 1980s, called for the government to allow unfettered markets to organize the economy. Neoliberalism’s proponents promised it would create widespread prosperity, but instead, it transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. As the middle class hollowed out, those slipping behind lined up behind an authoritarian figure who promised to restore their former centrality by attacking those he told them were their enemies.

When he took office, Biden vowed to prove that democracy worked. With laws like the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats directed investment toward ordinary Americans. The dramatic success of their economic program proved that it worked. On Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton noted that since 1989, the U.S. has created 51 million new jobs. Fifty million of those jobs were created under Democratic presidents, while only 1 million were added under Republicans—a striking statistic that perhaps will put neoliberalism, or at least the tired trope that Democrats are worse for the economy than Republicans, to bed. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination convention suggested a more thorough reworking of the federal government, one that also recalls the 1930s but suggests a transformation that goes beyond markets and jobs. 

Before Labor Secretary Perkins’s 1935 Social Security Act, the government served largely to manage the economic relationships between labor, capital, and resources. But Perkins recognized that the purpose of government was not to protect property; it was to protect the community. She recognized that children, women, and elderly and disabled Americans were as valuable to the community as young male workers and the wealthy men who employed them.

With a law that established a federal system of old-age benefits; unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services, Perkins began the process of molding the government to reflect that truth. 

Perkins’s understanding of the United States as a community reflected both her time in a small town in Maine and in her experience as a social worker in inner-city Philadelphia and Chicago before the law provided any protections for the workers, including children, who made the new factories profitable. She understood that while lawmakers focused on male workers, the American economy was, and always has been, utterly dependent on the unrecognized contributions of women and marginalized people in the form of childcare, sharing food and housing, and the many forms of unpaid work that keep communities functioning. 

This reworking of the American government to reflect community rather than economic

relationships changed the entire fabric of the country, and opponents have worked to destroy it ever since FDR began to put it in place. 

Now, in their quest to win the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz—the Democratic nominees for president and vice president—have reclaimed the idea of community, with its understanding that everyone matters and the government must serve everyone, as the center of American life. 

Their vision rejects the division of the country into “us” and “them” that has been a staple of Republican politics since President Richard M. Nixon. It also rejects the politics of identity that has become identified with the argument that the United States has been irredeemably warped by racism and sexism. Instead, at the DNC, Democrats acknowledged the many ways in which the country has come up short of its principles in the past, and demanded that Americans do something to put in place a government that will address those inequities and make the American dream accessible to all.

Walz personifies this community vision. On Wednesday he laid it out from the very beginning of his acceptance speech, noting that he grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people, with 24 kids in his high school class. “[G]rowing up in a small town like that,” he said, “you'll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.” The football players Walz coached to a state championship joined him on stage.

Harris also called out this idea of community when she declined to mention that, if elected, she will be the first female president, and instead remembered growing up in “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.” Her mother, Harris said, “leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. And Auntie Chris. None of them, family by blood. And all of them, Family. By love…. Family who…instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness. Respect. And compassion.”

The speakers at the DNC called out the women who make communities function. Speaker after speaker at the DNC thanked their mother. Former first lady Michelle Obama explicitly described her mother, Marian Robinson, as someone who lived out the idea of hope for a better future, working for children and the community. Mrs. Obama described her mother as “glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that for generations has strengthened the fabric of this nation.” 

Mrs. Obama, Harris, and Walz have emphasized that while they come from different backgrounds, they come from what Mrs. Obama called “the same foundational values”: “the promise of this country,” “the obligation to lift others up,” a “responsibility to give more than we take.”  Harris agreed, saying her mother “taught us to never complain about injustice. But…do something about it. She also taught us—Never do anything half-assed. That’s a direct quote.”

The Democrats worked to make it clear that their vision is not just the Democratic Party’s vision but an American one. They welcomed the union workers and veterans who have in the past gravitated toward Republicans, showing a powerful video contrasting Trump’s photo-ops, in which actors play union workers, with the actual plants being built thanks to money from the Biden-Harris administration. The many Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military stood on stage to back Arizona representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine, who told the crowd that the veteran unemployment rate under Biden and Harris is the lowest in history. 

The many Republicans who spoke at the convention reinforced that the Democratic vision speaks for the whole country. Former representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) identified this vision as “conservative.” “As a conservative and a veteran,” he said “I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That…is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican,” Kinzinger said. “But Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.” 

“[A] harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us,” Harris said. And she reminded people of her career as a prosecutor, in which “[e]very day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words: ‘Kamala Harris, for the People.’ My entire career, I have only had one client. The People.”

“And so, on behalf of The People. On behalf of every American. Regardless of party. Race. Gender. Or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard. Chase their dreams. And look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”

The 100,000 biodegradable balloons that fell from the rafters when Vice President Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president were blown up and tied by a team of 55 balloon artists from 18 states and Canada who volunteered to prepare the drop in honor of their colleague, Tommy DeLorenzo, who, along with his husband Scott, runs a balloon business. DeLorenzo is battling cancer. “We’re more colleagues than competitors,” Patty Sorell told Sydney Page of the Washington Post. “We all wanted to do something to help Tommy, to show him how much we love him.” 

“Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for this community,” DeLorenzo said.  

[justinspoliticalcorner]

James Lambert at The Downballot:

It wasn't supposed to be this way. After veteran lawmaker Pierre Poilievre easily won the Conservative Party's leadership race in the fall of 2022, he leveraged a relentless series of attacks against Canada's Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, into a seemingly insurmountable lead in the polls. Just a year later, Poilievre looked all but assured of restoring the Conservatives to power for the first time in nearly a decade. However, as the campaign period draws to a close, Canada's Conservatives are facing the very real prospect of seeing their hopes dashed on Monday—and, for the incumbent Liberals, the tantalizing possibility of securing a fourth consecutive term in office is more plausible than ever. Most startlingly, media reports, citing both Conservative and Liberal sources, are suggesting that Poilievre is even at risk of losing his own, seemingly safe seat in Parliament. What happened? After first winning office in 2004 at the age of just 25, Poilievre built a reputation as a pugnacious attack dog in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, first as a backbencher and later as a Cabinet minister. Twenty years later, after rising through the ranks, he appeared to be the inevitable successor to an increasingly unpopular and embattled Trudeau. Under Poilievre's leadership, the Conservatives laid siege to the Liberal government, assailing one of Trudeau's signature initiatives, a consumer tax on carbon, as well as benefiting from general public malaise resulting from post-COVID inflation. So strong was Poilievre's position—and so weak was that of the Liberals—that the Conservatives held a double-digit lead in every publicly-released national opinion poll between late January 2024 and the end of the year.

How an insurmountable lead collapsed

However, two major developments shook the earth from under Poilievre's feet and dramatically changed the trajectory of the campaign. First, Trudeau, entering his 10th year in office, finally acceded to demands from within his own caucus and announced his resignation as prime minister. Trudeau's departure sparked an accelerated leadership race to succeed him as head of the Liberal Party, which in Canadian politics occupies the center-to-center-left of the spectrum. That race was won handily by a complete neophyte in the world of electoral politics: Mark Carney, a former investment banker and bureaucrat who led, in succession from 2008 through 2020, the central banks of both Canada and the United Kingdom during historically turbulent financial times. Carney not only replaced Trudeau as leader of the Liberals, he also became prime minister in his stead. In his first official act as Canada's new head of government, Carney killed the carbon tax implemented by Trudeau, robbing Poilievre of his cause célèbre. The second sea change was also brought about by another change in leadership: Donald Trump's election to a second term.

Not long after his victory, Trump began to call for Canada's involuntary annexation by the United States through "economic force" as its "51st state". Trump's unprovoked aggression sparked a firestorm in Canada, beginning with grassroots-led boycotts of American products and even escalating to provincial governments removing U.S.-produced alcohol from the shelves of liquor stores. While Carney leaned into the moment, cutting a playful video with comedian Mike Myers in which he insisted that there will "always be a Canada," Poilievre was caught flat-footed by the intrusion of his erstwhile ideological ally into Canadian affairs. The Conservatives, unable or unready to pivot, stuck with Poillievre's "Axe the Tax" sloganeering, even though Carney had already done away with the carbon tax—and even as Trump was threatening to subsume Canada's people and resources into his desire to resurrect America's Manifest Destiny.

[...]

Final polls have generally shown the Liberals enjoying a low-to-mid-single-digit lead over the Conservatives. If accurate, that likely portends a Liberal majority in the 343-member federal legislature, due to the inefficient distribution of Conservative voters in the western provinces. (Canada added five seats to its Parliament since the last election in 2021. All 10 provinces also redrew their maps, a process handled on a strictly nonpartisan basis.) Struggling for air in this battle is Canada's left-leaning New Democratic Party, which, until recently, supported the minority Liberal government in Parliament under a "confidence and supply" agreement. The NDP is desperately hoping to reelect its few remaining incumbents and maintain some degree of relevance in the next Parliament. The party, however, faces challenging headwinds in the polls, as many of its supporters appear to be switching to Camp Carney to prevent a Poilievre victory.

Tonight in Canada, a big and pivotal election will take place under the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state and his moronic tariffs policy in its southern neighbour.

At the beginning of 2025, things were smooth sailing for Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives; however, a couple of key events changed the momentum of this election: the replacement of Justin Trudeau with Mark Carney as the Liberals’ leader and PM and Trump’s grandiose “51st state” pitch that pissed off just about every Canadian.

The Liberals were staring at not just losses of several seats but also possibly losing official opposition status, but in just a few months, they are likely set for a majority. As for the NDP, their official party status is under serious jeopardy. For the Bloc, however, they should have enough to maintain official party status.

Stay tuned later tonight.

See Also:

HuffPost: Donald Trump Pulls Obnoxious Stunt As Canada Elects Its Prime Minister

The Guardian: Canadians head to polls in election upturned by Trump

[patriottruth]

The tulsi gabbard Appointment and The 2024 U.S. Elections Aren't The Only Times donald j. trump and his Russian Asset Republicans Worked With Russians Against United States' Interests: COVID-19, USA Patriot Act/USA Freedom Act Sabotage, The Massive Russian SolarWinds Hack of 33,000 U.S. Government and Private Sector Computer Networks, and Russian 2024 Election Day Interference (compiled from Wikipedia):

In November 2019, a security researcher notified SolarWinds that credentials to a third party FTP server had a weak password of "solarwinds123", warning that "any hacker could upload malicious [code]" that would then be distributed to SolarWinds customers. The New York Times reported SolarWinds did not employ a chief information security officer and that employee passwords had been posted on GitHub in 2019.

December 1, 2019: COVID-19 pandemic: First known human case of Coronavirus disease 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei, China.

December 5, 2019: Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi asks the House Judiciary Committee to begin drafting the articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump.

December 9, 2019: The World Anti-Doping Agency votes unanimously to ban Russia from international sport for four years for doping offences, meaning it will be excluded from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

December 10, 2019: Democrats in the United States House of Representatives announce formal charges against President Donald Trump, accusing him of abusing power and "obstructing Congress"; he becomes the third U.S. president in history to face impeachment.

December 18, 2019: The U.S. House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President donald trump, making him the third president to be impeached in the nation's history.

December 29, 2019: The Taliban's ruling council agrees to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, opening a door to a peace agreement with the United States.

In January and February 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies delivered over a dozen classified warnings in the President's Daily Brief about COVID-19, including its potential to inflict severe political and economic damage. President Donald Trump typically did not read daily briefs and often has "little patience" for oral summaries, The Washington Post reported. Each brief was also shared with other officials in the administration. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which produces the President's Daily Brief, denied that there were repeated mentions of COVID-19.

On January 8, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a health advisory regarding an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, which was being caused by a yet-unidentified virus.

January 16, 2020: The first impeachment trial of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, begins in the U.S. Senate.

On January 27, 2020, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted that "things are going to get worse before they get better". Three days later, Fauci stated that the COVID-19 outbreak "could turn into a global pandemic".

On February 10, 2020, Trump stated that "a lot of people think that [COVID-19] goes away in April with the heat … Typically, that will go away in April" (later, on April 3, he denied ever having given "a date" for the departure of the virus)

On February 13, 2020, CDC director Robert Redfield contradicted Trump, saying that the "virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year". Redfield also predicted that it "will become a community virus at some point in time, this year or next year".

On February 16, 2020, Anthony Fauci warned that it was not necessarily true that COVID-19 would "disappear with the warm weather."

February 25, 2020, was the day that the CDC first warned the American public to prepare for a local outbreak. That day, Nancy Messonnier, head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that "We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this is going to be bad." Messonnier predicted that "we will see community spread in this country", and it was only a matter of time. As a result, "disruption to everyday life might be severe". Messonnier stated that the CDC is preparing, and "now is the time for hospitals, schools and everyday people to begin preparing as well."

On February 25, 2020, Anthony Fauci declared that given how COVID-19 was spreading in other nations, it was "inevitable that this will come to the United States" as well. On February 26, CDC Director Robert Redfield said it would be "prudent to assume this pathogen will be with us for some time to come".

On February 26, 2020, Trump contradicted Messonnier, stating: "I don't think it's inevitable" that a U.S. outbreak would occur, "It probably will, it possibly will … Whatever happens, we're totally prepared." Trump additionally declared that the number of infected was "going very substantially down, not up".

On February 27, 2020, The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, who helped to write the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which forms the framework for the federal response, warned a private group of his constituents that COVID-19 is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history, and is probably more akin to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. "There will be, I'm sure, times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, 'Let's close schools for two weeks. Everybody stay home,' We're going to send a military hospital there; it's going to be in tents and going to be set up on the ground somewhere, It's going to be a decision the president and DOD make."

On February 27, 2020, Trump said of the virus: "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. Could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows." Also on February 27, Trump declared that the risk to the American public from COVID-19 "remains very low".

February 27, 2020 stock market crash: Triggered by fears of the spreading of COVID-19, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunges by 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, to close at 25,766.64, its largest one-day point decline at the time. This follows several days of large falls, marking the worst week for the index since the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

On February 29, 2020, Trump said that "additional cases in the United States are likely", but "there's no reason to panic at all." When a reporter asked Trump: "How should Americans prepare for this virus?" Trump answered: "I hope they don't change their routine".

February 29, 2020: A conditional peace agreement is signed between the United States and the Taliban. The U.S. begins gradually withdrawing combat troops from Afghanistan on March 10.

On March 4, 2020, donald trump appeared on Fox News's Hannity by phone, where he claimed a 3.4% mortality rate projected by the World Health Organization (WHO) was a "false number", and stated his "hunch" that the true figure would be "way under 1%". Trump also predicted that many people infected with COVID-19 would experience "very mild" symptoms, "get better very rapidly" and thus they "don't even call a doctor". Thus, there may be "hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work—some of them go to work, but they get better."

From March 6 to March 12, 2020, donald trump stated on four occasions that the coronavirus would "go away". On March 10, Surgeon General Jerome Adams stated that "this is likely going to get worse before it gets better."

March 2020: The nightmare of empty grocery shelves begins. Stores capping/limiting purchases.

By March 11, 2020, the virus had spread to 110 countries, and the WHO officially declared a pandemic. The CDC had already warned that large numbers of people needing hospital care could overload the healthcare system, which would lead to otherwise preventable deaths. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci said the mortality from COVID-19 was ten times higher than the common flu. By March 12, diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. exceeded a thousand. Trump declared a national emergency on March 13. On March 16, the White House advised against any gatherings of more than ten people. Three days later, the United States Department of State advised U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel.

The USA Freedom Act, which became law on June 2, 2015, reenacted the expired USA Patriot Act sections through 2019. However, Section 215 of the law was amended to disallow the National Security Agency (NSA) to continue its mass phone data collection program. Instead, phone companies will retain the data and the NSA can obtain information about targeted individuals with a federal search warrant.

On August 14, 2019, the outgoing Director of National Intelligence sent a letter to Congress stating the Trump Administration's intention to seek permanent extension of the provisions of FISA that under the terms of the USA FREEDOM Act are scheduled to expire on December 15, 2019, namely the "lone wolf" authority allowing surveillance of a suspected terrorist who is inspired by foreign ideology but is not acting at the direction of a foreign party, the roving wiretap authority regarding surveillance of a terrorist who enters the United States and the authority to allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain certain business records in a national security investigation, as well as the call detail records program undertaken by the NSA. In reference to the latter authority, the letter announced that "The National Security Agency has suspended the call detail records program that uses this authority and deleted the call detail records acquired under this authority."

Jurisdiction over the reauthorization of the expiring FISA provisions is shared by the Judiciary and Intelligence committees in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives; the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held separate public hearings on the reauthorization in September 2019 and November 2019, respectively. Opposition to the call detail records program has led to some Congressional demands that the authority for the program not be renewed. Additional complications hindering reauthorization arose from a report of the US Department of Justice Inspector General finding fault with certain FISA applications in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign, which led some members of Congress to insist on reforms to FISA as a condition of reauthorizing the expiring USA FREEDOM Act provisions.With Congressional attention focused on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, the House of Representatives passed a long-term extension of the USA FREEDOM Act on March 11, 2020, just four days before the scheduled expiration of the Act on March 15, 2020, by a wide, bipartisan margin that kept the protections of the Act largely the same. Two months later, in May of 2020, the Senate passed an extension of the Act by an 80-16 vote that expanded some privacy protections, but the Senate version did not include protection of Americans’ internet browsing and search histories from warrantless surveillance, which was proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and failed by one vote.

According to former KGB major Yuri Shvets, donald trump became the target of a joint Czech intelligence services and KGB spying operation after he married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova and was cultivated as an "asset" by Russian intelligence since 1977: "Russian intelligence gained an interest in Trump as far back as 1977, viewing Trump as an exploitable target." Luke Harding writes that documents show Czechoslovakia spied on donald trump during the 1970s and 1980s, when he was married to Ivana Trump, his Czechoslovakia-born first wife. Harding writes that the Czechoslovakian government spied on donald trump because of his political ambitions and notability as a businessman. It is known that there were close ties between Czechoslovakia's StB and the USSR's KGB. Harding also describes how, already since 1987, the Soviet Union was interested in Trump. In his book Collusion, Harding asserts that the "top level of the Soviet diplomatic service arranged his 1987 Moscow visit. With assistance from the KGB." Then-KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov "wanted KGB staff abroad to recruit more Americans". Harding proceeds to describe the KGB's cultivation process, and posits that they may have opened a file on Trump as early as 1977, when he married Ivana. "According to files in Prague, declassified in 2016, Czech spies kept a close eye on the couple in Manhattan, … [with] periodic surveillance of the trump family in the United States."

donald j. trump and His Republican Allies Allowed the USA PATRIOT ACT/FREEDOM ACT to Expire on March 15, 2020 and They Didn't Reinstate It until May of 2020.

March 2020: SolarWinds's Orion software hotfixes were released to 33,000 Orion customers.Hackers acquired superuser access to SAML token-signing certificates. This SAML certificate was then used to forge new tokens to allow hackers trusted and highly privileged access to networks. The attack used a backdoor in a SolarWinds library; when an update to SolarWinds occurred, the malicious attack would go unnoticed due to the trusted certificate. APT29, aka Cozy Bear, working for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was reported to be behind the 2020 attack. Victims of this attack include the cybersecurity firm FireEye, the US Treasury Department, the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, as well as the US Department of Homeland Security. Prominent international SolarWinds customers investigating whether they were impacted include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Parliament, UK Government Communications Headquarters, the UK Ministry of Defence, the UK National Health Service (NHS), the UK Home Office, and AstraZeneca.

December 13, 2020: SolarWinds begins notifying customers, including a post on its Twitter account, “SolarWinds asks all customers to upgrade immediately to Orion Platform version 2020.2.1 HF 1 to address a security vulnerability.”

December 15, 2020 SolarWinds Victims named and timeline moves back — Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Commerce and Treasury Departments, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institutes of Health, and the State Department were all affected. Various security officials and vendors expressed serious dismay that the attack was more widespread and began much earlier than expected. The initial attack date was now pegged to sometime in March 2020, which meant the attack had been underway for months before its detection.

December 17, 2020: New SolarWinds victims revealed — The Energy Department (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, were publicly named as victims of the attack.

On December 21, 2020, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence all agreed that Russia was engaged in “a significant and ongoing cybersecurity campaign” against the United States. Russian asset, donald j. trump, immediately replied: “The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality,” Trump wrote. “I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”

March 16, 2020: stock market crash: The the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday (1929). This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.

On March 19, 2020, donald trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately downplaying the risk when communicating with the public. "I wanted to always play it down," Trump said. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

On March 24, 2020, donald trump argued that: "We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu … But we've never closed down the country for the flu." On March 27, he stated: "You can call it a flu. You can call it a virus. You know you can call it many different names. I'm not sure anybody even knows what it is."

On March 24, 2020, donald trump declared that "we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel"; a day later the U.S. surpassed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Throughout March and early April, several state, city, and county governments imposed "stay at home" quarantines on their populations to stem the spread of the virus. By March 26, The New York Times data showed the United States to have the highest number of known cases of any country. By March 27, the country had reported over 100,000 cases.

From March 30 to April 7, 2020, Trump stated on four occasions that COVID-19 would "go away".

On March 31, 2020, contradicting his many previous comparisons of COVID-19 to the flu, Trump said: "It's not the flu … It's vicious". When reporters asked him if his initial dismissive comments on the virus had misled Americans, he replied: "I want to give people a feeling of hope. I could be very negative … You know, I'm a cheerleader for the country." Asked further if he had known—despite his claims that the outbreak was under control—that the situation would turn out so severe, Trump replied: "I thought it could be. I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible, and I knew it could be maybe good."

On November 5, 2024, during the official Election Day, several non-credible bomb threats that originated from Russia briefly disrupted voting in two polling places in Fulton County, Georgia. Both re-opened after about 30 minutes. Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Russian interference was behind the Election Day bomb hoaxes. In a statement, the FBI said it was aware of non-credible bomb threats to polling locations in several states, with many of them originating from Russian email domains. The bomb threats were solely made against Democratic-leaning areas. On the same day, U.S. federal officials again reported that Russian sources were actively engaged in "influence operations", citing disinformation in specific videos that falsely claimed Kamala Harris had taken a bribe and false news stories about the Democratic Party and election fraud in Georgia.

On November 8, 2024 it was reported that one of the Russian email addresses behind Election Day bomb threats was used in June 2024 bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ events in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas.

If you're an American who wants this matter and the anti-American traitors responsible investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, please contact Democratic Leaders Schumer and Jeffries, Marc Elias and Democracy Docket, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington regarding enforcing donald j. trump's insurrectionist disqualification and electing Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States. If you want this matter investigated and prosecuted, the best person to do it is an experienced criminal prosecutor sitting as the U.S. President.

[eretzyisrael]

By Luke Tress

The anti-Zionist activist group Jewish Voice for Peace will pay a penalty of $677,634 to the US government after allegations of fraud.

Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was launched in March 2020, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia says in a statement.

Groups engaged in political or lobbying activities were not eligible for the loans, and Jewish Voice for Peace said it was not engaged in such activities in its loan application. An investigation determined that “Jewish Voice for Peace was primarily engaged in political activities,” however, the statement says.

The investigation came after a complaint filed by The Zionist Advocacy Center, a New York-based group.

Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan of $388,817, and, as part of a civil settlement, agreed to pay twice that amount in a penalty. The settlement does not include a “determination of liability,” the district attorney’s office says.

“Jewish Voice for Peace contends that any misstatements in this application were inadvertent,” the statement says.

Jewish Voice for Peace took in $3.3 million in revenue, mainly from donations and grants, between July 2022 and July 2023, according to its most recent tax filings.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Cartoon Movement

* * * *

A new way forward—for good!

November 5, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

Nov 04, 2024

As we head into Election Day, I don’t want to tell you how to feel. Instead, I will describe how I am feeling. I hope it is helpful.

I am feeling confident because we have done everything asked of us—and more.

I am feeling confident because we have enthusiasm and momentum on our side.

I am feeling confident because Kamala Harris has run a nearly flawless campaign.

I am feeling confident because I know that women are determined to reclaim their status as full citizens under the Constitution.

I am feeling confident because Democrats have consistently overperformed the predictions of pollsters and pundits in every election since 2020.

I am feeling confident because pollsters and pundits have underestimated the power of the grassroots movement that has engaged tens of millions of Americans as never before.

I am feeling confident because of the professionalism and dedication of local Democratic Party organizations.

I am feeling confident because Kamala Harris has shown us a new way forward that focuses on the good in the American people rather than on their grievances and divisions.

I am feeling confident because I know that the new way forward that has emerged over the last eight years is a change for good that will persist and prevail long after we are gone.

I am feeling confident because I know we aren’t going back—no matter what happens in any race decided on Election Day 2024.

I am feeling confident because we are standing on the shoulders of generations of Americans who sacrificed their lives, liberty, and security so that we could arrive safely at this moment of opportunity and promise.

I am feeling confident because I know that we will ultimately prevail in the larger battle for the soul of America.

I know that we are not guaranteed success. I know that polls continue to show a race allegedly closer than any presidential and congressional election in modern history. I know we could suffer disappointment—but I also know that we can survive, endure, and prevail over any loss. We have done so before, and we can do so again.

In my moments of doubt and worry, I am drawn to the memory of 25-year-old John Lewis, who led 600 marchers across Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. On that fateful day, state troopers cracked John Lewis’s skull with a club for daring to demand equal voting rights for Black Americans.

John Lewis could have given up when he awoke in the hospital with a bandaged and bloody head. He did not.

Two weeks after Bloody Sunday, John Lewis marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of others to complete the march into Montgomery.

Five months later, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Whatever happens on Election Day, I am not giving up—and I know you are not giving up. It doesn’t matter whether we win a trifecta or suffer shocking losses, our work of defending democracy will not be finished. It never will be.

Yes, Election Day is critically important. But it is one of thousands of critically important days in the life of our democracy within living memory.

If we are fortunate enough to secure major victories on Tuesday, our reward will be that we get to do it all over again, starting on Wednesday.

Democracy is an ongoing, collaborative process. The good news is that we are working with one another to ensure that we preserve democracy for the next generation. I am honored to be working by your side!

Notes from the field (part IV)

Jill and I canvassed with Steve and Ellen Hill on Monday, covering 116 residences in Charlotte. It was a sobering experience. The areas we canvassed were economically depressed. We walked through some single-family home neighborhoods, where many homes were abandoned. Rental homes were dilapidated, with peeling paint and abandoned cars on the front lawns. But even in those neighborhoods, homes were being bulldozed at a rapid pace and replaced by two-story faux Cape Cod homes that would require substantial double incomes to pay the mortgage.

Especially sobering were the large apartment complexes that consisted of brick row houses surrounding a common area. The areas surrounding the apartments were strewn with trash and abandoned belongings left behind by renters who were forced out or moved on short notice. The bones of the old brick apartments were still solid, but window frames and doors were rotting. The residents of those apartments have been ignored and abandoned by landlords, the city, the state, and society. It is easy to see why some residents in those apartments feel hopeless and disconnected from presidential politics. And yet, we spoke to occasional residents who were strong and clear in their support for Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot.

It was disappointing that we were unable to speak to more residents. On the other hand, I felt that putting a door hanger on the front doorknob was a message to the residents: “We came to talk with you. You are not forgotten. Your voice matters. Vote.”

Jill posted a video on her blog that explains the technology of canvassing. See Every Day with Jill, Final Day of Canvassing: FOR KAMALA!

Concluding Thoughts

The astronomy photo below shows the Western Veil Nebula, a remnant of an exploding star. The early universe consisted only of two elements--hydrogen and helium, the basic ingredients of stars. On the other hand, humans are made of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium.

If the universe started as hydrogen and helium, where did the other “stuff” that makes up humans come from? Answer: From exploding stars. You are, therefore, made of stardust. Literally. Not figuratively. Not metaphorically. Literally. Nearly every atom in your body came from an exploding star.

So, as you anxiously wait for election returns, reflect on the fact you have the great fortune to be here in this moment because millions of exploding stars propelled matter into space that fortuitously, miraculously coalesced into you. How lucky is that?

Stay strong!

[darkmaga-returns]

The results are in for at least one school: After four years of DEI-driven, functionally race-based admissions, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as TJ, in Alexandria, Virginia, has seen its national ranking fall to 14th place and its number of National Merit Scholar semifinalists cut nearly in half.

And according to the Virginia Attorney General, as of May 2025 it is in violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for discriminating against Asian American students in the admissions process at the school. TJ is also under federal investigation. It is steadfastly sticking to its radical admissions policy despite the negative effects. Given T.J.'s role as a STEM feeder school into the Ivies and Big Tech, this is more than another culture war battle. It affects national security.

Until four years ago the only way into TJ was via a rigorous entrance exam. Then in 2020, following the death of George Floyd, TJ officials became concerned about their negligible number of black and Hispanic students and changed admissions standards. The test was gone, replaced by a “holistic review” to include more “students who are economically disadvantaged [who now make up over 11 percent of the student body] English language learners, special education students, or students who are currently attending underrepresented middle schools.”

[importantmentalityphilosopher]

On March 22, 2018, Trump signed a memorandum under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, instructing the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to apply tariffs of $50 billion on Chinese goods.

This from Brookings; September of 2020. President Trump has advocated for greater trade protectionism and imposed a series of tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and other trading partners. His administration justified these policies on three grounds: that they would benefit American workers, especially in manufacturing; that they would give the United States leverage to renegotiate trade agreements with other countries; and that they were necessary to protect American national security. Judged by these three metrics, how successful were Trump’s tariffs? And what’s at stake in this election for the future of American trade policy?American firms and consumers paid the vast majority of the cost of Trump’s tariffs.While tariffs benefited some workers in import-competing industries, they hurt workers in sectors that rely on imported inputs and those in exporting industries facing retaliation from trade partners.Trump’s tariffs did not help the U.S. negotiate better trade agreements or significantly improve national security.

Trump is proposing a 10% tariff. Economists say that amounts to a $1,700 tax on Americans.

Former President Donald Trump is pledging to supercharge one of his signature trade policies — tariffs — if he's re-elected this November, by imposing 10% across-the-board levies on all products imported into the U.S. from overseas. The idea, he has said, is to protect American jobs as well as raise more revenue to offset an extension of his 2017 tax cuts.

But that proposal would likely backfire, effectively acting as a tax on U.S. consumers, economists spanning the political spectrum say. If the tariffs are enacted — with Trump also proposing a levy of 60% or more on Chinese imports — a typical middle-class household in the U.S. would face an estimated $1,700 a year in additional costs, acording to the non-partisan Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

Meanwhile, the left-leaning Center on American Progress has also crunched the numbers and projects roughly $1,500 per year in extra costs for the typical household. The reason, according to experts: Companies in the U.S. that import goods from abroad typically pass the cost of tariffs onto American consumers; relatedly, domestic manufacturers then often raise their own prices. 

More cowardly liberal TDS BS (aka Anonymous). ESADYCB!!!

But here are just a few accomplishments for you to ponder:

Before the Chinese “whore” invaded our shores, we had the world’s most prosperous economy.

Summary

Pro God

Pro Life

Pro Guns

Pro Jobs

Pro Military

Pro Justice

My 401K was doing great under him

No endless wars

Bonus: love the mean tweets!!!

More Specific

America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.

Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.

The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.

Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.

More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.

Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.

The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.

Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.

Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.

Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.

Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.

Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.

Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.

Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.

The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.

Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.

African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.

Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.

Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.

Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.

Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.

The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs.

Rebuilding and investing in rural America.

Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.

Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.

An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.

During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.

Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.

Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.

Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.

Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.

Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.

80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.

Small business confidence hit a new high.

Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.

Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.

Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.

Home prices hit an all-time record high.

The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.

Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.

Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.

Tax Relief for the Middle Class

Passed $3.2 trillion in historic tax relief and reformed the tax code.

Signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the largest tax reform package in history.

More than 6 million American workers received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to the tax cuts.

A typical family of four earning $75,000 received an income tax cut of more than $2,000 – slashing their tax bill in half.

Doubled the standard deduction – making the first $24,000 earned by a married couple completely tax-free.

Doubled the child tax credit.

Virtually eliminated the unfair Estate Tax, or Death Tax.

Cut the business tax rate from 35 percent – the highest in the developed world – all the way down to 21 percent.

Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.

Businesses can now deduct 100 percent of the cost of their capital investments in the year the investment is made.

Since the passage of tax cuts, the share of total wealth held by the bottom half of households has increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent has decreased.

Over 400 companies have announced bonuses, wage increases, new hires, or new investments in the United States.

Over $1.5 trillion was repatriated into the United States from overseas.

Lower investment cost and higher capital returns led to faster growth in the middle class, real wages, and international competitiveness.

Jobs and investments are pouring into Opportunity Zones.

Created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where capital gains on long-term investments are taxed at zero.

Opportunity Zone designations have increased property values within them by 1.1 percent, creating an estimated $11 billion in wealth for the nearly half of Opportunity Zone residents who own their own home.

Opportunity Zones have attracted $75 billion in funds and driven $52 billion of new investment in economically distressed communities, creating at least 500,000 new jobs.

Approximately 1 million Americans will be lifted from poverty as a result of these new investments.

Private equity investments into businesses in Opportunity Zones were nearly 30 percent higher than investments into businesses in similar areas that were not designated Opportunity Zones.

Massive Deregulation

Ended the regulatory assault on American Businesses and Workers.

Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.

Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.

Reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion, and will reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone.

Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.

Established the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation to reduce outdated regulations at the state, local, and tribal levels.

Signed an executive order to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans.

Signed two executive orders to increase transparency in Federal agencies and protect Americans and their small businesses from administrative abuse.

Modernized the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in over 40 years.

Reduced approval times for major infrastructure projects from 10 or more years down to 2 years or less.

Helped community banks by signing legislation that rolled back costly provisions of Dodd-Frank.

Established the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing to bring down housing costs.

Removed regulations that threatened the development of a strong and stable internet.

Eased and simplified restrictions on rocket launches, helping to spur commercial investment in space projects.

Published a whole-of-government strategy focused on ensuring American leadership in automated vehicle technology.

Streamlined energy efficiency regulations for American families and businesses, including preserving affordable lightbulbs, enhancing the utility of showerheads, and enabling greater time savings with dishwashers.

Removed unnecessary regulations that restrict the seafood industry and impede job creation.

Modernized the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology regulations to put America in the lead to develop new technologies.

Took action to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to COVID-19, including lifting restrictions on manufacturers to more quickly produce ventilators.

Successfully rolled back burdensome regulatory overreach.

Rescinded the previous administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which would have abolished zoning for single-family housing to build low-income, federally subsidized apartments.

Issued a final rule on the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard.

Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.

Repealed the previous administration’s costly fuel economy regulations by finalizing the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which will make cars more affordable, and lower the price of new vehicles by an estimated $2,200.

Americans now have more money in their pockets.

Deregulation had an especially beneficial impact on low-income Americans who pay a much higher share of their incomes for overregulation.

Cut red tape in the healthcare industry, providing Americans with more affordable healthcare and saving Americans nearly 10 percent on prescription drugs.

Deregulatory efforts yielded savings to the medical community an estimated $6.6 billion – with a reduction of 42 million hours of regulatory compliance work through 2021.

Removed government barriers to personal freedom and consumer choice in healthcare.

Once fully in effect, 20 major deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration are expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year.

Signed 16 pieces of deregulatory legislation that will result in a $40 billion increase in annual real incomes.

Fair and Reciprocal Trade

Secured historic trade deals to defend American workers.

Immediately withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Ended the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and replaced it with the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The USMCA contains powerful new protections for American manufacturers, auto-makers, farmers, dairy producers, and workers.

The USMCA is expected to generate over $68 billion in economic activity and potentially create over 550,000 new jobs over ten years.

Signed an executive order making it government policy to Buy American and Hire American, and took action to stop the outsourcing of jobs overseas.

Negotiated with Japan to slash tariffs and open its market to $7 billion in American agricultural products and ended its ban on potatoes and lamb.

Over 90 percent of American agricultural exports to Japan now receive preferential treatment, and most are duty-free.

Negotiated another deal with Japan to boost $40 billion worth of digital trade.

Renegotiated the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, doubling the cap on imports of American vehicles and extending the American light truck tariff.

Reached a written, fully-enforceable Phase One trade agreement with China on confronting pirated and counterfeit goods, and the protection of American ideas, trade secrets, patents, and trademarks.

China agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of United States exports and opened market access for over 4,000 American facilities to exports while all tariffs remained in effect.

Achieved a mutual agreement with the European Union (EU) that addresses unfair trade practices and increases duty-free exports by 180 percent to $420 million.

Secured a pledge from the EU to eliminate tariffs on American lobster – the first United States-European Union negotiated tariff reduction in over 20 years.

Scored a historic victory by overhauling the Universal Postal Union, whose outdated policies were undermining American workers and interests.

Engaged extensively with trade partners like the EU and Japan to advance reforms to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Issued a first-ever comprehensive report on the WTO Appellate Body’s failures to comply with WTO rules and interpret WTO agreements as written.

Blocked nominees to the WTO’s Appellate Body until WTO Members recognize and address longstanding issues with Appellate Body activism.

Submitted 5 papers to the WTO Committee on Agriculture to improve Members’ understanding of how trade policies are implemented, highlight areas for improved transparency, and encourage members to maintain up-to-date notifications on market access and domestic support.

Took strong actions to confront unfair trade practices and put America First.

Imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods to protect American jobs and stop China’s abuses under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Directed an all-of-government effort to halt and punish efforts by the Communist Party of China to steal and profit from American innovations and intellectual property.

Imposed tariffs on foreign aluminum and foreign steel to protect our vital industries and support our national security.

Approved tariffs on $1.8 billion in imports of washing machines and $8.5 billion in imports of solar panels.

Blocked illegal timber imports from Peru.

Took action against France for its digital services tax that unfairly targets American technology companies.

Launched investigations into digital services taxes that have been proposed or adopted by 10 other countries.

Historic support for American farmers.

Successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs.

Authorized $28 billion in aid for farmers who have been subjected to unfair trade practices – fully funded by the tariffs paid by China.

China lifted its ban on poultry, opened its market to beef, and agreed to purchase at least $80 billion of American agricultural products in the next two years.

The European Union agreed to increase beef imports by 180 percent and opened up its market to more imports of soybeans.

South Korea lifted its ban on American poultry and eggs, and agreed to provide market access for record exports of American rice.

Argentina lifted its ban on American pork.

Brazil agreed to increase wheat imports by $180 million a year and raised its quotas for purchases of United States ethanol.

Guatemala and Tunisia opened up their markets to American eggs.

Won tariff exemptions in Ecuador for wheat and soybeans.

Suspended $817 million in trade preferences for Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program due to its failure to adequately provide reasonable market access for American pork products.

The amount of food stamps redeemed at farmers markets increased from $1.4 million in May 2020 to $1.75 million in September 2020 – a 50 percent increase over last year.

Rapidly deployed the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which provided $30 billion in support to farmers and ranchers facing decreased prices and market disruption when COVID-19 impacted the food supply chain.

Authorized more than $6 billion for the Farmers to Families Food Box program, which delivered over 128 million boxes of locally sourced, produce, meat, and dairy products to charity and faith-based organizations nationwide.

Delegated authorities via the Defense Production Act to protect breaks in the American food supply chain as a result of COVID-19.

American Energy Independence

Unleashed America’s oil and natural gas potential.

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the United States has become a net energy exporter.

The United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

Natural gas production reached a record-high of 34.9 quads in 2019, following record high production in 2018 and in 2017.

The United States has been a net natural gas exporter for three consecutive years and has an export capacity of nearly 10 billion cubic feet per day.

Withdrew from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Agreement.

Canceled the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, and replaced it with the new Affordable Clean Energy rule.

Approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

Opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas leasing.

Repealed the last administration’s Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium, which prohibited coal leasing on Federal lands.

Reformed permitting rules to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and speed approval for mines.

Fixed the New Source Review permitting program, which punished companies for upgrading or repairing coal power plants.

Fixed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) steam electric and coal ash rules.

The average American family saved $2,500 a year in lower electric bills and lower prices at the gas pump.

Signed legislation repealing the harmful Stream Protection Rule.

Reduced the time to approve drilling permits on public lands by half, increasing permit applications to drill on public lands by 300 percent.

Expedited approval of the NuStar’s New Burgos pipeline to export American gasoline to Mexico.

Streamlined Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal permitting and allowed long-term LNG export authorizations to be extended through 2050.

The United States is now among the top three LNG exporters in the world.

Increased LNG exports five-fold since January 2017, reaching an all-time high in January 2020.

LNG exports are expected to reduce the American trade deficit by over $10 billion.

Granted more than 20 new long-term approvals for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries.

The development of natural gas and LNG infrastructure in the United States is providing tens of thousands of jobs, and has led to the investment of tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure.

There are now 6 LNG export facilities operating in the United States, with 2 additional export projects under construction.

The amount of nuclear energy production in 2019 was the highest on record, through a combination of increased capacity from power plant upgrades and shorter refueling and maintenance cycles.

Prevented Russian energy coercion across Europe through various lines of effort, including the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation, civil nuclear deals with Romania and Poland, and opposition to Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Issued the Presidential Permit for the A2A railroad between Canada and Alaska, providing energy resources to emerging markets.

Increased access to our country’s abundant natural resources in order to achieve energy independence.

Renewable energy production and consumption both reached record highs in 2019.

Enacted policies that helped double the amount of electricity generated by solar and helped increase the amount of wind generation by 32 percent from 2016 through 2019.

Accelerated construction of energy infrastructure to ensure American energy producers can deliver their products to the market.

Cut red tape holding back the construction of new energy infrastructure.

Authorized ethanol producers to sell E15 year-round and allowed higher-ethanol gasoline to be distributed from existing pumps at filling stations.

Ensured greater transparency and certainty in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.

Negotiated leasing capacity in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Australia, providing American taxpayers a return on this infrastructure investment.

Signed an executive order directing Federal agencies to work together to diminish the capability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.

Reformed Section 401 of the Clean Water Act regulation to allow for the curation of interstate infrastructure.

Resolved the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil crisis during COVID-19 by getting OPEC, Russia, and others to cut nearly 10 million barrels of production a day, stabilizing world oil prices.

Directed the Department of Energy to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to mitigate market volatility caused by COVID-19.

Investing in America’s Workers and Families

Affordable and high-quality Child Care for American workers and their families.

Doubled the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child and expanded the eligibility for receiving the credit.

Nearly 40 million families benefitted from the child tax credit (CTC), receiving an average benefit of $2,200 – totaling credits of approximately $88 billion.

Signed the largest-ever increase in Child Care and Development Block Grants – expanding access to quality, affordable child care for more than 800,000 low-income families.

Secured an additional $3.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help families and first responders with child care needs.

Created the first-ever paid family leave tax credit for employees earning $72,000 or less.

Signed into law 12-weeks of paid parental leave for Federal workers.

Signed into law a provision that enables new parents to withdraw up to $5,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty when they give birth to or adopt a child.

Advanced apprenticeship career pathways to good-paying jobs.

Expanded apprenticeships to more than 850,000 and established the new Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship programs in new and emerging fields.

Established the National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board.

Over 460 companies have signed the Pledge to America’s Workers, committing to provide more than 16 million job and training opportunities.

Signed an executive order that directs the Federal government to replace outdated degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.

Advanced women’s economic empowerment.

Included women’s empowerment for the first time in the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy.

Signed into law key pieces of legislation, including the Women, Peace, and Security Act and the Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act.

Launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative – the first-ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment that has reached 24 million women worldwide.

Established an innovative new W-GDP Fund at USAID.

Launched the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) with 13 other nations.

Announced a $50 million donation on behalf of the United States to We-Fi providing more capital to women-owned businesses around the world.

Released the first-ever Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which focused on increasing women’s participation to prevent and resolve conflicts.

Launched the W-GDP 2x Global Women’s Initiative with the Development Finance Corporation, which has mobilized more than $3 billion in private sector investments over three years.

Ensured American leadership in technology and innovation.

First administration to name artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and 5G communications as national research and development priorities.

Launched the American Broadband Initiative to promote the rapid deployment of broadband internet across rural America.

Made 100 megahertz of crucial mid-band spectrum available for commercial operations, a key factor to driving widespread 5G access across rural America.

Launched the American AI Initiative to ensure American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI), and established the National AI Initiative Office at the White House.

Established the first-ever principles for Federal agency adoption of AI to improve services for the American people.

Signed the National Quantum Initiative Act establishing the National Quantum Coordination Office at the White House to drive breakthroughs in quantum information science.

Signed the Secure 5G and Beyond Act to ensure America leads the world in 5G.

Launched a groundbreaking program to test safe and innovative commercial drone operations nationwide.

Issued new rulemaking to accelerate the return of American civil supersonic aviation.

Committed to doubling investments in AI and quantum information science (QIS) research and development.

Announced the establishment of $1 billion AI and quantum research institutes across America.

Established the largest dual-use 5G test sites in the world to advance 5G commercial and military innovation.

Signed landmark Prague Principles with America’s allies to advance the deployment of secure 5G telecommunications networks.

Signed first-ever bilateral AI cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom.

Built collation among allies to ban Chinese Telecom Company Huawei from their 5G infrastructure.

Preserved American jobs for American workers and rejected the importation of cheap foreign labor.

Pressured the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reverse their decision to lay off over 200 American workers and replace them with cheaper foreign workers.

Removed the TVA Chairman of the Board and a TVA Board Member.

Life-Saving Response to the China Virus

Restricted travel to the United States from infected regions of the world.

Suspended all travel from China, saving thousands of lives.

Required all American citizens returning home from designated outbreak countries to return through designated airports with enhanced screening measures, and to undergo a self-quarantine.

Announced further travel restrictions on Iran, the Schengen Area of Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil.

Issued travel advisory warnings recommending that American citizens avoid all international travel.

Reached bilateral agreements with Mexico and Canada to suspend non-essential travel and expeditiously return illegal aliens.

Repatriated over 100,000 American citizens stranded abroad on more than 1,140 flights from 136 countries and territories.

Safely transported, evacuated, treated, and returned home trapped passengers on cruise ships.

Took action to authorize visa sanctions on foreign governments who impede our efforts to protect American citizens by refusing or unreasonably delaying the return of their own citizens, subjects, or residents from the United States.

Acted early to combat the China Virus in the United States.

Established the White House Coronavirus Task Force, with leading experts on infectious diseases, to manage the Administration’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to keep workplaces safe.

Pledged in the State of the Union address to “take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from the Virus,” while the Democrats’ response made not a single mention of COVID-19 or even the threat of China.

Declared COVID-19 a National Emergency under the Stafford Act.

Established the 24/7 FEMA National Response Coordination Center.

Released guidance recommending containment measures critical to slowing the spread of the Virus, decompressing peak burden on hospitals and infrastructure, and diminishing health impacts.

Implemented strong community mitigation strategies to sharply reduce the number of lives lost in the United States down from experts’ projection of up to 2.2 million deaths in the United States without mitigation.

Halted American funding to the World Health Organization to counter its egregious bias towards China that jeopardized the safety of Americans.

Announced plans for withdrawal from the World Health Organization and redirected contribution funds to help meet global public health needs.

Called on the United Nations to hold China accountable for their handling of the virus, including refusing to be transparent and failing to contain the virus before it spread.

Re-purposed domestic manufacturing facilities to ensure frontline workers had critical supplies.

Distributed billions of pieces of Personal Protective Equipment, including gloves, masks, gowns, and face shields.

Invoked the Defense Production Act over 100 times to accelerate the development and manufacturing of essential material in the USA.

Made historic investments of more than $3 billion into the industrial base.

Contracted with companies such as Ford, General Motors, Philips, and General Electric to produce ventilators.

Contracted with Honeywell, 3M, O&M Halyard, Moldex, and Lydall to increase our Nation’s production of N-95 masks.

The Army Corps of Engineers built 11,000 beds, distributed 10,000 ventilators, and surged personnel to hospitals.

Converted the Javits Center in New York into a 3,000-bed hospital, and opened medical facilities in Seattle and New Orleans.

Dispatched the USNS Comfort to New York City, and the USNS Mercy to Los Angeles.

Deployed thousands of FEMA employees, National Guard members, and military forces to help in the response.

Provided support to states facing new emergences of the virus, including surging testing sites, deploying medical personnel, and advising on mitigation strategies.

Announced Federal support to governors for use of the National Guard with 100 percent cost-share.

Established the Supply Chain Task Force as a “control tower” to strategically allocate high-demand medical supplies and PPE to areas of greatest need.

Requested critical data elements from states about the status of hospital capacity, ventilators, and PPE.

Executed nearly 250 flights through Project Air Bridge to transport hundreds of millions of surgical masks, N95 respirators, gloves, and gowns from around the world to hospitals and facilities throughout the United States.

Signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure that Americans have a reliable supply of products like beef, pork, and poultry.

Stabilized the food supply chain restoring the Nation’s protein processing capacity through a collaborative approach with Federal, state, and local officials and industry partners.

The continued movement of food and other critical items of daily life distributed to stores and to American homes went unaffected.

Replenished the depleted Strategic National Stockpile.

Increased the number of ventilators nearly ten-fold to more than 153,000.

Despite the grim projections from the media and governors, no American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator.

Increased the number of N95 masks fourteen-fold to more than 176 million.

Issued an executive order ensuring critical medical supplies are produced in the United States.

Created the largest, most advanced, and most innovative testing system in the world.

Built the world’s leading testing system from scratch, conducting over 200 million tests – more than all of the European Union combined.

Engaged more than 400 test developers to increase testing capacity from less than 100 tests per day to more than 2 million tests per day.

Slashed red tape and approved Emergency Use Authorizations for more than 300 different tests, including 235 molecular tests, 63 antibody tests, and 11 antigen tests.

Delivered state-of-the-art testing devices and millions of tests to every certified nursing home in the country.

Announced more flexibility to Medicare Advantage and Part D plans to waive cost-sharing for tests.

Over 2,000 retail pharmacy stores, including CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, are providing testing using new regulatory and reimbursement options.

Deployed tens of millions of tests to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribes, disaster relief operations, Home Health/Hospice organizations, and the Veterans Health Administration.

Began shipping 150 million BinaxNOW rapid tests to states, long-term care facilities, the IHS, HBCUs, and other key partners.

Pioneered groundbreaking treatments and therapies that reduced the mortality rate by 85 percent, saving over 2 million lives.

The United States has among the lowest case fatality rates in the entire world.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program to expedite the regulatory review process for therapeutics in clinical trials, accelerate the development and publication of industry guidance on developing treatments, and utilize regulatory flexibility to help facilitate the scaling-up of manufacturing capacity.

More than 370 therapies are in clinical trials and another 560 are in the planning stages.

Announced $450 million in available funds to support the manufacturing of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail.

Shipped tens of thousands of doses of the Regeneron drug.

Authorized an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma.

Treated around 100,000 patients with convalescent plasma, which may reduce mortality by 50 percent.

Provided $48 million to fund the Mayo Clinic study that tested the efficacy of convalescent plasma for patients with COVID-19.

Made an agreement to support the large-scale manufacturing of AstraZeneca’s cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies.

Approved Remdesivir as the first COVID-19 treatment, which could reduce hospitalization time by nearly a third.

Secured more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of Remdesivir, enough to treat over 850,000 high-risk patients.

Granted an EUA to Eli Lilly for its anti-body treatments.

Finalized an agreement with Eli Lilly to purchase the first doses of the company’s investigational antibody therapeutic.

Provided up to $270 million to the American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers to support the collection of up to 360,000 units of plasma.

Launched a nationwide campaign to ask patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma.

Announced Phase 3 clinical trials for varying types of blood thinners to treat adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

Issued an EUA for the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab.

FDA issued an EUA for casirivimab and imdevimab to be administered together.

Launched the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium with private sector and academic leaders unleashing America’s supercomputers to accelerate coronavirus research.

Brought the full power of American medicine and government to produce a safe and effective vaccine in record time.

Launched Operation Warp Speed to initiate an unprecedented drive to develop and make available an effective vaccine by January 2021.

Pfizer and Moderna developed two vaccines in just nine months, five times faster than the fastest prior vaccine development in American history.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are approximately 95 effective – far exceeding all expectations.

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also both have promising candidates in the final stage of clinical trials.

The vaccines will be administered within 24 hours of FDA-approval.

Made millions of vaccine doses available before the end of 2020, with hundreds of millions more to quickly follow.

FedEx and UPS will ship doses from warehouses directly to local pharmacies, hospitals, and healthcare providers.

Finalized a partnership with CVS and Walgreens to deliver vaccines directly to residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities as soon as a state requests it, at no cost to America’s seniors.

Signed an executive order to ensure that the United States government prioritizes getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations.

Provided approximately $13 billion to accelerate vaccine development and to manufacture all of the top candidates in advance.

Provided critical investments of $4.1 billion to Moderna to support the development, manufacturing, and distribution of their vaccines.

Moderna announced its vaccine is 95 percent effective and is pending FDA approval.

Provided Pfizer up to $1.95 billion to support the mass-manufacturing and nationwide distribution of their vaccine candidate.

Pfizer announced its vaccine is 95 percent effective and is pending FDA approval.

Provided approximately $1 billion to support the manufacturing and distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate reached the final stage of clinical trials.

Made up to $1.2 billion available to support AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate reached the final stage of clinical trials.

Made an agreement to support the large-scale manufacturing of Novavax’s vaccine candidate with 100 million doses expected.

Partnered with Sanofi and GSK to support large-scale manufacturing of a COVID-19 investigational vaccine.

Awarded $200 million in funding to support vaccine preparedness and plans for the immediate distribution and administration of vaccines.

Provided $31 million to Cytvia for vaccine-related consumable products.

Under the PREP Act, issued guidance authorizing qualified pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines.

Announced that McKesson Corporation will produce store, and distribute vaccine ancillary supply kits on behalf of the Strategic National Stockpile to help healthcare workers who will administer vaccines.

Announced partnership with large-chain, independent, and regional pharmacies to deliver vaccines.

Prioritized resources for the most vulnerable Americans, including nursing home residents.

Quickly established guidelines for nursing homes and expanded telehealth opportunities to protect vulnerable seniors.

Increased surveillance, oversight, and transparency of all 15,417 Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes by requiring them to report cases of COVID-19 to all residents, their families, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Required that all nursing homes test staff regularly.

Launched an unprecedented national nursing home training curriculum to equip nursing home staff with the knowledge they need to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Delivered $81 million for increased inspections and funded 35,000 members of the Nation Guard to deliver critical supplies to every Medicare-certified nursing homes.

Deployed Federal Task Force Strike Teams to provide onsite technical assistance and education to nursing homes experiencing outbreaks.

Distributed tens of billions of dollars in Provider Relief Funds to protect nursing homes, long-term care facilities, safety-net hospitals, rural hospitals, and communities hardest hit by the virus.

Released 1.5 million N95 respirators from the Strategic National Stockpile for distribution to over 3,000 nursing home facilities.

Directed the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council to refocus on underserved communities impacted by the coronavirus.

Required that testing results reported include data on race, gender, ethnicity, and ZIP code, to ensure that resources were directed to communities disproportionately harmed by the virus.

Ensured testing was offered at 95 percent of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), which serve over 29 million patients in 12,000 communities across the Nation.

Invested an unprecedented $8 billion in tribal communities.

Maintained safe access for Veterans to VA healthcare throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic and supported non-VA hospital systems and private and state-run nursing homes with VA clinical teams.

Signed legislation ensuring no reduction of VA education benefits under the GI Bill for online distance learning.

Supported Americans as they safely return to school and work.

Issued the Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, a detailed blueprint to help governors as they began reopening the country. Focused on protecting the most vulnerable and mitigating the risk of any resurgence, while restarting the economy and allowing Americans to safely return to their jobs.

Helped Americans return to work by providing extensive guidance on workplace-safety measures to protect against COVID-19, and investigating over 10,000 coronavirus-related complaints and referrals.

Provided over $31 billion to support elementary and secondary schools.

Distributed 125 million face masks to school districts.

Provided comprehensive guidelines to schools on how to protect and identify high-risk individuals, prevent the spread of COVID-19, and conduct safe in-person teaching.

Brought back the safe return of college athletics, including Big Ten and Pac-12 football.

Rescued the American economy with nearly $3.4 trillion in relief, the largest financial aid package in history.

Secured an initial $8.3 billion Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act, supporting the development of treatments and vaccines, and to procure critical medical supplies and equipment.

Signed the $100 billion Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, guaranteeing free coronavirus testing, emergency paid sick leave and family leave, Medicaid funding, and food assistance.

Signed the $2.3 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing unprecedented and immediate relief to American families, workers, and businesses.

Signed additional legislation providing nearly $900 billion in support for coronavirus emergency response and relief, including critically needed funds to continue the Paycheck Protection Program.

Signed the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, adding an additional $310 billion to replenish the program.

Delivered approximately 160 million relief payments to hardworking Americans.

Through the Paycheck Protection Program, approved over $525 billion in forgivable loans to more than 5.2 million small businesses, supporting more than 51 million American jobs.

The Treasury Department approved the establishment of the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility to provide liquidity to the financial system.

The Treasury Department, working with the Federal Reserve, was able to leverage approximately $4 trillion in emergency lending facilities.

Signed an executive order extending expanded unemployment benefits.

Signed an executive order to temporarily suspend student loan payments, evictions, and collection of payroll taxes.

Small Business Administration expanded access to emergency economic assistance for small businesses, faith-based, and religious entities.

Protected jobs for American workers impacted by COVID-19 by temporarily suspending several job-related nonimmigrant visas, including H-1B’s, H-2B’s without a nexus to the food-supply chain, certain H-4’s, as well as L’s and certain J’s.

Great Healthcare for Americans

Empowered American patients by greatly expanding healthcare choice, transparency, and affordability.

Eliminated the Obamacare individual mandate – a financial relief to low and middle-income households that made up nearly 80 percent of the families who paid the penalty for not wanting to purchase health insurance.

Increased choice for consumers by promoting competition in the individual health insurance market leading to lower premiums for three years in a row.

Under the Trump Administration, more than 90 percent of the counties have multiple options on the individual insurance market to choose from.

Offered Association Health Plans, which allow employers to pool together and offer more affordable, quality health coverage to their employees at up to 30 percent lower cost.

Increased availability of short-term, limited-duration health plans, which can cost up to 60 percent less than traditional plans, giving Americans more flexibility to choose plans that suit their needs.

Expanded Health Reimbursement Arrangements, allowing millions of Americans to be able to shop for a plan of their choice on the individual market, and then have their employer cover the cost.

Added 2,100 new Medicare Advantage plan options since 2017, a 76 percent increase.

Lowered Medicare Advantage premiums by 34 percent nationwide to the lowest level in 14 years. Medicare health plan premium savings for beneficiaries have totaled $nearly 1.5 billion since 2017.

Improved access to tax-free health savings accounts for individuals with chronic conditions.

Eliminated costly Obamacare taxes, including the health insurance tax, the medical device tax, and the “Cadillac tax.”

Worked with states to create more flexibility and relief from oppressive Obamacare regulations, including reinsurance waivers to help lower premiums.

Released legislative principles to end surprise medical billing.

Finalized requirements for unprecedented price transparency from hospitals and insurance companies so patients know what the cost is before they receive care.

Took action to require that hospitals make the prices they negotiate with insurers publicly available and easily accessible online.

Improved patients access to their health data by penalizing hospitals and causing clinicians to lose their incentive payments if they do not comply.

Expanded access to telehealth, especially in rural and underserved communities.

Increased Medicare payments to rural hospitals to stem a decade of rising closures and deliver enhanced access to care in rural areas.

Issued unprecedented reforms that dramatically lowered the price of prescription drugs.

Lowered drug prices for the first time in 51 years.

Launched an initiative to stop global freeloading in the drug market.

Finalized a rule to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

Finalized the Most Favored Nation Rule to ensure that pharmaceutical companies offer the same discounts to the United States as they do to other nations, resulting in an estimated $85 billion in savings over seven years and $30 billion in out-of-pocket costs alone.

Proposed a rule requiring federally funded health centers to pass drug company discounts on insulin and Epi-Pens directly to patients.

Ended the gag clauses that prevented pharmacists from informing patients about the best prices for the medications they need.

Ended the costly kickbacks to middlemen and ensured that patients directly benefit from available discounts at the pharmacy counter, saving Americans up to 30 percent on brand name pharmaceuticals.

Enhanced Part D plans to provide many seniors with Medicare access to a broad set of insulins at a maximum $35 copay for a month’s supply of each type of insulin.

Reduced Medicare Part D prescription drug premiums, saving beneficiaries nearly $2 billion in premium costs since 2017.

Ended the Unapproved Drugs Initiative, which provided market exclusivity to generic drugs.

Promoted research and innovation in healthcare to ensure that American patients have access to the best treatment in the world.

Signed first-ever executive order to affirm that it is the official policy of the United States Government to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.

Passed Right To Try to give terminally ill patients access to lifesaving cures.

Signed an executive order to fight kidney disease with more transplants and better treatment.

Signed into law a $1 billion increase in funding for critical Alzheimer’s research.

Accelerated medical breakthroughs in genetic treatments for Sickle Cell disease.

Finalized the interoperability rules that will give American patients access to their electronic health records on their phones.

Initiated an effort to provide $500 million over the next decade to improve pediatric cancer research.

Launched a campaign to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America in the next decade.

Started a program to provide the HIV prevention drug PrEP to uninsured patients for free.

Signed an executive order and awarded new development contracts to modernize the influenza vaccine.

Protected our Nation’s seniors by safeguarding and strengthening Medicare.

Updated the way Medicare pays for innovative medical products to ensure beneficiaries have access to the latest innovation and treatment.

Reduced improper payments for Medicare an estimated $15 billion since 2016 protecting taxpayer dollars and leading to less fraud, waste, and abuse.

Took rapid action to combat antimicrobial resistance and secure access to life-saving new antibiotic drugs for American seniors, by removing several financial disincentives and setting policies to reduce inappropriate use.

Launched new online tools, including eMedicare, Blue Button 2.0, and Care Compare, to help seniors see what is covered, compare costs, streamline data, and compare tools available on Medicare.gov.

Provided new Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits, including modifications to help keep seniors safe in their homes, respite care for caregivers, non-opioid pain management alternatives like therapeutic massages, transportation, and more in-home support services and assistance.

Protected Medicare beneficiaries by removing Social Security numbers from all Medicare cards, a project completed ahead of schedule.

Unleashed unprecedented transparency in Medicare and Medicaid data to spur research and innovation.

Remaking the Federal Judiciary

Appointed a historic number of Federal judges who will interpret the Constitution as written.

Nominated and confirmed over 230 Federal judges.

Confirmed 54 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, making up nearly a third of the entire appellate bench.

Filled all Court of Appeals vacancies for the first time in four decades.

Flipped the Second, Third, and Eleventh Circuits from Democrat-appointed majorities to Republican-appointed majorities. And dramatically reshaped the long-liberal Ninth Circuit.

Appointed three Supreme Court justices, expanding its conservative-appointed majority to 6-3.

Appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.

Appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Achieving a Secure Border

Secured the Southern Border of the United States.

Built over 400 miles of the world’s most robust and advanced border wall.

Illegal crossings have plummeted over 87 percent where the wall has been constructed.

Deployed nearly 5,000 troops to the Southern border. In addition, Mexico deployed tens of thousands of their own soldiers and national guardsmen to secure their side of the US-Mexico border.

Ended the dangerous practice of Catch-and-Release, which means that instead of aliens getting released into the United States pending future hearings never to be seen again, they are detained pending removal, and then ultimately returned to their home countries.

Entered into three historic asylum cooperation agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to stop asylum fraud and resettle illegal migrants in third-party nations pending their asylum applications.

Entered into a historic partnership with Mexico, referred to as the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” to safely return asylum-seekers to Mexico while awaiting hearings in the United States.

Fully enforced the immigration laws of the United States.

Signed an executive order to strip discretionary Federal grant funding from deadly sanctuary cities.

Fully enforced and implemented statutorily authorized “expedited removal” of illegal aliens.

The Department of Justice prosecuted a record-breaking number of immigration-related crimes.

Used Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to reduce the number of aliens coming from countries whose governments refuse to accept their nationals who were ordered removed from the United States.

Ended asylum fraud, shut down human smuggling traffickers, and solved the humanitarian crisis across the Western Hemisphere.

Suspended, via regulation, asylum for aliens who had skipped previous countries where they were eligible for asylum but opted to “forum shop” and continue to the United States.

Safeguarded migrant families, and protected migrant safety, by promulgating new regulations under the Flores Settlement Agreement.

Proposed regulations to end the practice of giving free work permits to illegal aliens lodging meritless asylum claims.

Issued “internal relocation” guidance.

Cross-trained United States Border Patrol agents to conduct credible fear screenings alongside USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) adjudication personnel to reduce massive backlogs.

Streamlined and expedited the asylum hearing process through both the Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP).

Launched the Family Fraud Initiative to identify hundreds of individuals who were fraudulently presenting themselves as family units at the border, oftentimes with trafficking children, in order to ensure child welfare.

Improved screening in countries with high overstay rates and reduced visa overstay rates in many of these countries.

Removed bureaucratic constraints on United States consular officers that reduced their ability to appropriately vet visa applicants.

Worked with Mexico and other regional partners to dismantle the human smuggling networks in our hemisphere that profit from human misery and fuel the border crisis by exploiting vulnerable populations.

Secured our Nation’s immigration system against criminals and terrorists.

Instituted national security travel bans to keep out terrorists, jihadists, and violent extremists, and implemented a uniform security and information-sharing baseline all nations must meet in order for their nationals to be able to travel to, and emigrate to, the United States.

Suspended refugee resettlement from the world’s most dangerous and terror-afflicted regions.

Rebalanced refugee assistance to focus on overseas resettlement and burden-sharing.

85 percent reduction in refugee resettlement.

Overhauled badly-broken refugee security screening process.

Required the Department of State to consult with states and localities as part of the Federal government’s refugee resettlement process.

Issued strict sanctions on countries that have failed to take back their own nationals.

Established the National Vetting Center, which is the most advanced and comprehensive visa screening system anywhere in the world.

Protected American workers and taxpayers.

Issued a comprehensive “public charge” regulation to ensure newcomers to the United States are financially self-sufficient and not reliant on welfare.

Created an enforcement mechanism for sponsor repayment and deeming, to ensure that people who are presenting themselves as sponsors are actually responsible for sponsor obligations.

Issued regulations to combat the horrendous practice of “birth tourism.”

Issued a rule with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make illegal aliens ineligible for public housing.

Issued directives requiring Federal agencies to hire United States workers first and prioritizing the hiring of United States workers wherever possible.

Suspended the entry of low-wage workers that threaten American jobs.

Finalized new H-1B regulations to permanently end the displacement of United States workers and modify the administrative tools that are required for H-1B visa issuance.

Defended United States sovereignty by withdrawing from the United Nations’ Global Compact on Migration.

Suspended Employment Authorization Documents for aliens who arrive illegally between ports of entry and are ordered removed from the United States.

Restored integrity to the use of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by strictly adhering to the statutory conditions required for TPS.

Restoring American Leadership Abroad

Restored America’s leadership in the world and successfully negotiated to ensure our allies pay their fair share for our military protection.

Secured a $400 billion increase in defense spending from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies by 2024, and the number of members meeting their minimum obligations more than doubled.

Credited by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for strengthening NATO.

Worked to reform and streamline the United Nations (UN) and reduced spending by $1.3 billion.

Allies, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, committed to increase burden-sharing.

Protected our Second Amendment rights by announcing the United States will never ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty.

Returned 56 hostages and detainees from more than 24 countries.

Worked to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region, promoting new investments and expanding American partnerships.

Advanced peace through strength.

Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Nuclear Deal and imposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian Regime.

Conducted vigorous enforcement on all sanctions to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero and deny the regime its principal source of revenue.

First president to meet with a leader of North Korea and the first sitting president to cross the demilitarized zone into North Korea.

Maintained a maximum pressure campaign and enforced tough sanctions on North Korea while negotiating de-nuclearization, the release of American hostages, and the return of the remains of American heroes.

Brokered economic normalization between Serbia and Kosovo, bolstering peace in the Balkans.

Signed the Honk Kong Autonomy Act and ended the United States’ preferential treatment with Hong Kong to hold China accountable for its infringement on the autonomy of Hong Kong.

Led allied efforts to defeat the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to control the international telecommunications system.

Renewed our cherished friendship and alliance with Israel and took historic action to promote peace in the Middle East.

Recognized Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel and quickly moved the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and declared that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not inconsistent with international law.

Removed the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council due to the group’s blatant anti-Israel bias.

Brokered historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab-Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Sudan.

In addition, the United States negotiated a normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, and recognized Moroccan Sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara, a position with long standing bipartisan support.

Brokered a deal for Kosovo to normalize ties and establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Announced that Serbia would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

First American president to address an assembly of leaders from more than 50 Muslim nations, and reach an agreement to fight terrorism in all its forms.

Established the Etidal Center to combat terrorism in the Middle East in conjunction with the Saudi Arabian Government.

Announced the Vision for Peace Political Plan – a two-state solution that resolves the risks of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security, and the first time Israel has agreed to a map and a Palestinian state.

Released an economic plan to empower the Palestinian people and enhance Palestinian governance through historic private investment.

Stood up against Communism and Socialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Reversed the previous Administration’s disastrous Cuba policy, canceling the sellout deal with the Communist Castro dictatorship.

Pledged not to lift sanctions until all political prisoners are freed; freedoms of assembly and expression are respected; all political parties are legalized; and free elections are scheduled.

Enacted a new policy aimed at preventing American dollars from funding the Cuban regime, including stricter travel restrictions and restrictions on the importation of Cuban alcohol and tobacco.

Implemented a cap on remittances to Cuba.

Enabled Americans to file lawsuits against persons and entities that traffic in property confiscated by the Cuban regime.

First world leader to recognize Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela and led a diplomatic coalition against the Socialist Dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

Blocked all property of the Venezuelan Government in the jurisdiction of the United States.

Cut off the financial resources of the Maduro regime and sanctioned key sectors of the Venezuelan economy exploited by the regime.

Brought criminal charges against Nicolas Maduro for his narco-terrorism.

Imposed stiff sanctions on the Ortega regime in Nicaragua.

Joined together with Mexico and Canada in a successful bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with 60 matches to be held in the United States.

Won bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Colossal Rebuilding of the Military

Rebuilt the military and created the Sixth Branch, the United States Space Force.

Completely rebuilt the United States military with over $2.2 trillion in defense spending, including $738 billion for 2020.

Secured three pay raises for our service members and their families, including the largest raise in a decade.

Established the Space Force, the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

Modernized and recapitalized our nuclear forces and missile defenses to ensure they continue to serve as a strong deterrent.

Upgraded our cyber defenses by elevating the Cyber Command into a major warfighting command and by reducing burdensome procedural restrictions on cyber operations.

Vetoed the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act, which failed to protect our national security, disrespected the history of our veterans and military, and contradicted our efforts to put America first.

Defeated terrorists, held leaders accountable for malign actions, and bolstered peace around the world.

Defeated 100 percent of ISIS’ territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Freed nearly 8 million civilians from ISIS’ bloodthirsty control, and liberated Mosul, Raqqa, and the final ISIS foothold of Baghuz.

Killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and eliminated the world’s top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani.

Created the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) in partnership between the United States and its Gulf partners to combat extremist ideology and threats, and target terrorist financial networks, including over 60 terrorist individuals and entities spanning the globe.

Twice took decisive military action against the Assad regime in Syria for the barbaric use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including a successful 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles strike.

Authorized sanctions against bad actors tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program.

Negotiated an extended ceasefire with Turkey in northeast Syria.

Addressed gaps in American’s defense-industrial base, providing much-needed updates to improve the safety of our country.

Protected America’s defense-industrial base, directing the first whole-of-government assessment of our manufacturing and defense supply chains since the 1950s.

Took decisive steps to secure our information and communications technology and services supply chain, including unsafe mobile applications.

Completed several multi-year nuclear material removal campaigns, securing over 1,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and significantly reducing global nuclear threats.

Signed an executive order directing Federal agencies to work together to diminish the capability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.

Established a whole-of-government strategy addressing the threat posed by China’s malign efforts targeting the United States taxpayer-funded research and development ecosystem.

Advanced missile defense capabilities and regional alliances.

Bolstered the ability of our allies and partners to defend themselves through the sale of aid and military equipment.

Signed the largest arms deal ever, worth nearly $110 billion, with Saudi Arabia.

Serving and Protecting Our Veterans

Reformed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve care, choice, and employee accountability.

Signed and implemented the VA Mission Act, which made permanent Veterans CHOICE, revolutionized the VA community care system, and delivered quality care closer to home for Veterans.

The number of Veterans who say they trust VA services has increased 19 percent to a record 91 percent, an all-time high.

Offered same-day emergency mental health care at every VA medical facility, and secured $9.5 billion for mental health services in 2020.

Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017, which ensured that veterans could continue to see the doctor of their choice and wouldn’t have to wait for care.

During the Trump Administration, millions of veterans have been able to choose a private doctor in their communities.

Expanded Veterans’ ability to access telehealth services, including through the “Anywhere to Anywhere” VA healthcare initiative leading to a 1000 percent increase in usage during COVID-19.

Signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act and removed thousands of VA workers who failed to give our Vets the care they have so richly deserve.

Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 and improved the efficiency of the VA, setting record numbers of appeals decisions.

Modernized medical records to begin a seamless transition from the Department of Defense to the VA.

Launched a new tool that provides Veterans with online access to average wait times and quality-of-care data.

The promised White House VA Hotline has fielded hundreds of thousands of calls.

Formed the PREVENTS Task Force to fight the tragedy of Veteran suicide.

Decreased veteran homelessness, improved education benefits, and achieved record-low veteran unemployment.

Signed and implemented the Forever GI Bill, allowing Veterans to use their benefits to get an education at any point in their lives.

Eliminated every penny of Federal student loan debt owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled.

Compared to 2009, 49 percent fewer veterans experienced homelessness nationwide during 2019.

Signed and implemented the HAVEN Act to ensure that Veterans who’ve declared bankruptcy don’t lose their disability payments.

Helped hundreds of thousands of military service members make the transition from the military to the civilian workforce, and developed programs to support the employment of military spouses.

Placed nearly 40,000 homeless veterans into employment through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program.

Placed over 600,000 veterans into employment through American Job Center services.

Enrolled over 500,000 transitioning service members in over 20,000 Department of Labor employment workshops.

Signed an executive order to help Veterans transition seamlessly into the United States Merchant Marine.

Making Communities Safer

Signed into law landmark criminal justice reform.

Signed the bipartisan First Step Act into law, the first landmark criminal justice reform legislation ever passed to reduce recidivism and help former inmates successfully rejoin society.

Promoted second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

Launched a new “Ready to Work” initiative to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.

Awarded $2.2 million to states to expand the use of fidelity bonds, which underwrite companies that hire former prisoners.

Reversed decades-old ban on Second Chance Pell programs to provide postsecondary education to individuals who are incarcerated expand their skills and better succeed in the workforce upon re-entry.

Awarded over $333 million in Department of Labor grants to nonprofits and local and state governments for reentry projects focused on career development services for justice-involved youth and adults who were formerly incarcerated.

Unprecedented support for law-enforcement.

In 2019, violent crime fell for the third consecutive year.

Since 2016, the violent crime rate has declined over 5 percent and the murder rate has decreased by over 7 percent.

Launched Operation Legend to combat a surge of violent crime in cities, resulting in more than 5,500 arrests.

Deployed the National Guard and Federal law enforcement to Kenosha to stop violence and restore public safety.

Provided $1 million to Kenosha law enforcement, nearly $4 million to support small businesses in Kenosha, and provided over $41 million to support law enforcement to the state of Wisconsin.

Deployed Federal agents to save the courthouse in Portland from rioters.

Signed an executive order outlining ten-year prison sentences for destroying Federal property and monuments.

Directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute Federal offenses related to ongoing violence.

DOJ provided nearly $400 million for new law enforcement hiring.

Endorsed by the 355,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Revitalized Project Safe Neighborhoods, which brings together Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials to develop solutions to violent crime.

Improved first-responder communications by deploying the FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network, which serves more than 12,000 public safety agencies across the Nation.

Established a new commission to evaluate best practices for recruiting, training, and supporting law enforcement officers.

Signed the Safe Policing for Safe Communities executive order to incentive local police department reforms in line with law and order.

Made hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of surplus military equipment available to local law enforcement.

Signed an executive order to help prevent violence against law enforcement officers.

Secured permanent funding for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for first responders.

Implemented strong measures to stem hate crimes, gun violence, and human trafficking.

Signed an executive order making clear that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism.

Launched a centralized website to educate the public about hate crimes and encourage reporting.

Signed the Fix NICS Act to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

Signed the STOP School Violence Act and created a Commission on School Safety to examine ways to make our schools safer.

Launched the Foster Youth to Independence initiative to prevent and end homelessness among young adults under the age of 25 who are in, or have recently left, the foster care system.

Signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which tightened criteria for whether countries are meeting standards for eliminating trafficking.

Established a task force to help combat the tragedy of missing or murdered Native American women and girls.

Prioritized fighting for the voiceless and ending the scourge of human trafficking across the Nation, through a whole of government back by legislation, executive action, and engagement with key industries.

Created the first-ever White House position focused solely on combating human trafficking.

Cherishing Life and Religious Liberty

Steadfastly supported the sanctity of every human life and worked tirelessly to prevent government funding of abortion.

Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, ensuring that taxpayer money is not used to fund abortion globally.

Issued a rule preventing Title X taxpayer funding from subsiding the abortion industry.

Supported legislation to end late-term abortions.

Cut all funding to the United Nations population fund due to the fund’s support for coercive abortion and forced sterilization.

Signed legislation overturning the previous administration’s regulation that prohibited states from defunding abortion facilities as part of their family planning programs.

Fully enforced the requirement that taxpayer dollars do not support abortion coverage in Obamacare exchange plans.

Stopped the Federal funding of fetal tissue research.

Worked to protect healthcare entities and individuals’ conscience rights – ensuring that no medical professional is forced to participate in an abortion in violation of their beliefs.

Issued an executive order reinforcing requirement that all hospitals in the United States provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants who are in need of emergency medical care—regardless of prematurity or disability.

Led a coalition of countries to sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration, declaring that there is no international right to abortion and committing to protecting women’s health.

First president in history to attend the March for Life.

Stood up for religious liberty in the United States and around the world.

Protected the conscience rights of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

First president to convene a meeting at the United Nations to end religious persecution.

Established the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.

Stopped the Johnson Amendment from interfering with pastors’ right to speak their minds.

Reversed the previous administration’s policy that prevented the government from providing disaster relief to religious organizations.

Protected faith-based adoption and foster care providers, ensuring they can continue to serve their communities while following the teachings of their faith.

Reduced burdensome barriers to ensure Native Americans are free to keep spiritually and culturally significant eagle feathers found on their tribal lands.

Took action to ensure Federal employees can take paid time off work to observe religious holy days.

Signed legislation to assist religious and ethnic groups targeted by ISIS for mass murder and genocide in Syria and Iraq.

Directed American assistance toward persecuted communities, including through faith-based programs.

Launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance – the first-ever alliance devoted to confronting religious persecution around the world.

Appointed a Special Envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

Imposed restrictions on certain Chinese officials, internal security units, and companies for their complicity in the persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Issued an executive order to protect and promote religious freedom around the world.

Safeguarding the Environment

Took strong action to protect the environment and ensure clean air and clean water.

Took action to protect vulnerable Americans from being exposed to lead and copper in drinking water and finalized a rule protecting children from lead-based paint hazards.

Invested over $38 billion in clean water infrastructure.

In 2019, America achieved the largest decline in carbon emissions of any country on earth. Since withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation.

American levels of particulate matter – one of the main measures of air pollution – are approximately five times lower than the global average.

Between 2017 and 2019, the air became 7 percent cleaner – indicated by a steep drop in the combined emissions of criteria pollutants.

Led the world in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, having cut energy-related CO2 emissions by 12 percent from 2005 to 2018 while the rest of the world increased emissions by 24 percent.

In FY 2019 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleaned up more major pollution sites than any year in nearly two decades.

The EPA delivered $300 million in Brownfields grants directly to communities most in need including investment in 118 Opportunity Zones.

Placed a moratorium on offshore drilling off the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

Restored public access to Federal land at Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Recovered more endangered or threatened species than any other administration in its first term.

Secured agreements and signed legislation to protect the environment and preserve our Nation’s abundant national resources.

The USMCA guarantees the strongest environmental protections of any trade agreement in history.

Signed the Save Our Seas Act to protect our environment from foreign nations that litter our oceans with debris and developed the first-ever Federal strategic plan to address marine litter.

Signed the Great American Outdoors Act, securing the single largest investment in America’s National Parks and public lands in history.

Signed the largest public lands legislation in a decade, designating 1.3 million new acres of wilderness.

Signed a historic executive order promoting much more active forest management to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Opened and expanded access to over 4 million acres of public lands for hunting and fishing.

Joined the One Trillion Trees Initiative to plant, conserve, and restore trees in America and around the world.

Delivered infrastructure upgrades and investments for numerous projects, including over half a billion dollars to fix the Herbert Hoover Dike and expanding funding for Everglades restoration by 55 percent.

Expanding Educational Opportunity

Fought tirelessly to give every American access to the best possible education.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expanded School Choice, allowing parents to use up to $10,000 from a 529 education savings account to cover K-12 tuition costs at the public, private, or religious school of their choice.

Launched a new pro-American lesson plan for students called the 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education.

Prohibited the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the Federal government.

Established the National Garden of American Heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.

Called on Congress to pass the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act to expand education options for 1 million students of all economic backgrounds.

Signed legislation reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

Issued updated guidance making clear that the First Amendment right to Free Exercise of Religion does not end at the door to a public school.

Took action to promote technical education.

Signed into law the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which provides over 13 million students with high-quality vocational education and extends more than $1.3 billion each year to states for critical workforce development programs.

Signed the INSPIRE Act which encouraged NASA to have more women and girls participate in STEM and seek careers in aerospace.

Allocated no less than $200 million each year in grants to prioritize women and minorities in STEM and computer science education.

Drastically reformed and modernized our educational system to restore local control and promote fairness.

Restored state and local control of education by faithfully implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Signed an executive order that ensures public universities protect First Amendment rights or they will risk losing funding, addresses student debt by requiring colleges to share a portion of the financial risk, and increases transparency by requiring universities to disclose information about the value of potential educational programs.

Issued a rule strengthening Title IX protections for survivors of sexual misconduct in schools, and that – for the first time in history – codifies that sexual harassment is prohibited under Title IX.

Negotiated historic bipartisan agreement on new higher education rules to increase innovation and lower costs by reforming accreditation, state authorization, distance education, competency-based education, credit hour, religious liberty, and TEACH Grants.

Prioritized support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Moved the Federal Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Initiative back to the White House.

Signed into law the FUTURE Act, making permanent $255 million in annual funding for HBCUs and increasing funding for the Federal Pell Grant program.

Signed legislation that included more than $100 million for scholarships, research, and centers of excellence at HBCU land-grant institutions.

Fully forgave $322 million in disaster loans to four HBCUs in 2018, so they could fully focus on educating their students.

Enabled faith-based HBCUs to enjoy equal access to Federal support.

Combatting the Opioid Crisis

Brought unprecedented attention and support to combat the opioid crisis.

Declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency.

Secured a record $6 billion in new funding to combat the opioid epidemic.

Signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the largest-ever legislative effort to address a drug crisis in our Nation’s history.

Launched the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand in order to confront the many causes fueling the drug crisis.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a record $9 billion in grants to expand access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services to States and local communities.

Passed the CRIB Act, allowing Medicaid to help mothers and their babies who are born physically dependent on opioids by covering their care in residential pediatric recovery facilities.

Distributed $1 billion in grants for addiction prevention and treatment.

Announced a Safer Prescriber Plan that seeks to decrease the amount of opioids prescriptions filled in America by one third within three years.

Reduced the total amount of opioids prescriptions filled in America.

Expanded access to medication-assisted treatment and life-saving Naloxone.

Launched FindTreatment.gov, a tool to find help for substance abuse.

Drug overdose deaths fell nationwide in 2018 for the first time in nearly three decades.

Launched the Drug-Impaired Driving Initiative to work with local law enforcement and the driving public at large to increase awareness.

Launched a nationwide public ad campaign on youth opioid abuse that reached 58 percent of young adults in America.

Since 2016, there has been a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of Americans receiving medication-assisted treatment.

Approved 29 state Medicaid demonstrations to improve access to opioid use disorder treatment, including new flexibility to cover inpatient and residential treatment.

Approved nearly $200 million in grants to address the opioid crisis in severely affected communities and to reintegrate workers in recovery back into the workforce.

Took action to seize illegal drugs and punish those preying on innocent Americans.

In FY 2019, ICE HSI seized 12,466 pounds of opioids including 3,688 pounds of fentanyl, an increase of 35 percent from FY 2018.

Seized tens of thousands of kilograms of heroin and thousands of kilograms of fentanyl since 2017.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecuted more fentanyl traffickers than ever before, dismantled 3,000 drug trafficking organizations, and seized enough fentanyl to kill 105,000 Americans.

DOJ charged more than 65 defendants collectively responsible for distributing over 45 million opioid pills.

Brought kingpin designations against traffickers operating in China, India, Mexico, and more who have played a role in the epidemic in America.

Indicted major Chinese drug traffickers for distributing fentanyl in the U.S for the first time ever, and convinced China to enact strict regulations to control the production and sale of fentanyl.

[reality-detective]

DJT's EXECUTIVE ORDERS 👇

13818

● Confiscated private and corporate assets

● Seized the NYSE

● Blocking the property of those involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption and human trafficking

13848

● 13848 imposes certain sanctions in the event of foreign interference in any of the United States choice

13959

● Maintain American leadership in artificial intelligence

Khazarian assets confiscated

● Among the top 3 executive orders - many DS assets were confiscated and DS Agents reversed

13818, 13848 and 13959

● The Space Force has EVERYTHING under control!

● DS money will be used up quickly

● All DS gold has already been confiscated (Vatican etc.)

● Wall Street, Washington DC, Vatican and City of London - all dead

● OPERATION: DEFEND EUROPE. This started March 17th 2020 and takes over the Vatican, it's the mafia and it's seizing all the Rothschilds central banks

● Brexit has severed the Vatican's ropes and stripped the Royals of all assets

● We're going to Tesla and metals instead of oil and gas

GESARA – Global Economic Security and Reform Act

● It should be implemented on 10/11/2001. Stopped by the Khazarian false flag event on 9/11

● Elimination of the national debt of all nations of the world

● No taxes. Only a fixed sales tax of around 15% on new goods

● Waiving of mortgages and other bank departments due to illegal government activities

● Back to constitutional law - get rid of the corrupt law of the sea

● Newly elected leaders - only 10% of current governments

● World peace for 1,000 years

● Eliminate all current and future nuclear weapons on planet earth

● Gold Standard!

● Introduction of new hidden technologies - 6,000 Tesla patents. free energy

● Build and rebuild in all countries at 1950s prices

● The power back to We The People. Global distribution of wealth

● Odin project = World EBS (Emergency Broadcast System)

The Deep State is Falling to Pieces 🤔

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson

March 3, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 4

As seemed evident even at the time, the ambush of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday was a setup to provide justification for cutting off congressionally approved aid to Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russia’s invasion. That “impoundment” of funds Congress has determined should go to Ukraine is illegal under the terms of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, and it is unconstitutional because the Constitution gives to Congress, not to the president, the power to set government spending and to make laws. The president’s job is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

It was for a similar impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds for Ukraine, holding them back until Zelensky agreed to tilt the 2020 election by smearing Joe Biden, that the House of Representatives impeached Trump in 2019. It is not hard to imagine that Trump chose to repeat that performance, in public this time, as a demonstration of his determination to act as he wishes regardless of laws and Constitution.

On Sunday, Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a series of memos he and other senior career officials had written, recording in detail how the cuts to “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” at the agency will lead to “preventable death” and make the U.S. less safe. The cuts will “no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” one memo read.

Enrich estimated that without USAID intervention, more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns would not get medical care; more than 14 million children would not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children would be paralyzed with polio; and 1 million children would not be treated for severe acute malnutrition. There would be an additional 12.5 million or more cases of malaria this year, meaning 71,000 to 166,000 deaths; a 28–32% increase in tuberculosis; as many as 775 million cases of avian flu; 2.3 million additional deaths a year in children who could not be vaccinated against diseases; additional cases of Ebola and mpox. The higher rates of illness will take a toll on economic development in developing countries, and both the diseases and the economic stagnation will spill over into the United States.

Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised to create a system for waivers to protect that lifesaving aid, the cuts appear random and the system for reversing them remains unworkable. The programs remain shuttered. Enrich blamed "political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE, who have created and continue to create intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation."

On Sunday, Enrich sent another memo to staff, thanking them for their work and telling them he had been placed on “administrative leave, effective immediately.”

Dangerous cuts are taking place in the United States, as well. On Friday, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk called Social Security, the basis of the U.S. social safety net, a “Ponzi scheme.” Also on Friday, the Social Security Administration announced that it will consolidate the current ten regional offices it maintains into four and cut at least 7,000 jobs from an agency that is already at a 50-year staffing low. Erich Wagner of Government Executive reported that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) team had canceled the leases for 45 of the agency’s field offices and is urging employees to quit.

The acting commissioner of the agency, Leland Dudek, a mid-level staffer who got his post after sharing sensitive information with DOGE, blamed former president Joe Biden for the cuts.

In contrast, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) pointed out that the system currently delivers 99.7% of retirement benefits accurately and on time. He warned that the administration is hollowing it out, and when it can no longer function, Republicans will say it needs the private sector to take it over. He called the cuts “a prelude to privatization.”

“The public is going to suffer terribly as a result of this,” a senior official told NPR. “Local field offices will close, hold times will increase, and people will be sicker, hungry, or die when checks don't arrive or a disability hearing is delayed just one month too late.”

In South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, more than 200 wildfires began to burn over the weekend as dry conditions and high winds drove the flames. Firefighters from the Forest Service helped to contain the fires, but they were understaffed even before Trump took office. Now, with the new cuts to the service, prevention measures are impossible and there aren’t enough people to fight fires effectively and safely. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster (R) declared a state of emergency on Sunday.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo picked up something many of us missed, posting today that Trump’s February 11 “workforce optimization” executive order is a clear blueprint for the end goal of all the cuts to the federal government. The order says that departments and agencies must plan to cut all functions and employees who are not designated as essential during a government shutdown. As Marshall notes, this is basically a blueprint for a skeleton crew version of government.

But for all that the administration, led by DOGE, insists that the U.S. has no money for the government services that help ordinary people, it appears to think there is plenty of money to help wealthy supporters. In February, the cryptocurrency bitcoin experienced its biggest monthly drop since June 2022, falling by 17.5%. On Sunday, in a post on his social media site, Trump announced that the government will create a strategic stockpile of five cryptocurrencies, spending tax dollars to buy them.

Supporters say that such an investment could pay off in decades, when that currency has appreciated to become worth trillions of dollars. But, as Zachary B. Wolf of CNN notes, “for every bitcoin evangelist, there is an academic or banker from across the political spectrum who will point out that cryptocurrency investments might just as easily go up in smoke, which would be an unfortunate thing to happen to taxpayer dollars.”

The first three currencies Trump announced were not well known, and the announcement sent their prices soaring. Hours later, he added the names of the two biggest cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. After the initial surges, by Monday prices for the currencies had fallen roughly back to where they had been before the announcement, making the announcement look like a pump-and-dump scheme. Economist Peter Schiff, a Trump supporter, called for a full congressional investigation, suggesting that someone other than Trump might have written the social media posts that set off the frenzy and wondering who was buying and selling in that short window of time.

Also on Sunday, the administration announced it would stop enforcing anti-money-laundering laws that were put in place over Trump’s veto in 2021 at the end of his first term and required shell companies to identify the people who own or control them. Referring to the law as a “Biden rule,” Trump called the announcement that he would not enforce it “Exciting News!” The Trump Organization frequently uses shell companies.

A world in which the government does not regulate business or address social welfare or infrastructure, claiming instead to promote economic development by funneling resources to wealthy business leaders, looks much like the late-nineteenth-century world that Trump praises. Trump insists that President William McKinley, who was president from 1897 to 1901, created the nation’s most prosperous era by imposing high tariffs on products from foreign countries.

Trump confirmed today that he will go forward with his own 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on goods from China, adding to the 10% tariffs Trump added to Chinese products in February. While President Joe Biden maintained tariffs on only certain products from China to protect specific industries, it appears Trump’s tariffs will cover all products.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada called the tariffs “unjustified” and announced that Canada will put retaliatory tariffs on $20.8 billion worth of U.S. products made primarily in Republican-dominated states, including spirits, beer, wine, cosmetics, appliances, orange juice, peanut butter, clothing, footwear, and paper. A second set of tariffs in a few weeks will target about $90 billion worth of products, including cars and trucks, EVs, products made of steel and aluminum, fruits and vegetables, beef, pork, and dairy products.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum did not provide details of what her country would do but told reporters today: “We have a plan B, C, D.” Chinese officials say that China, too, will impose retaliatory tariffs, singling out agricultural products and placing tariffs of 15% on corn and 10% on soybeans. It also says it will restrict exports to 15 U.S. companies.

The tariffs in place in the U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century were less important for the explosive growth of the economy in that era than the flood of foreign capital into private businesses: railroad, mining, cattle, department stores, and finance. By the end of the century, investing in America was such a busy trade that the London Stock Exchange had a separate section for American railroad transactions alone.

And the economic growth of the country did not help everyone equally. While industrialists like Cornelius Vanderbilt II could build 70-room summer homes in Newport, Rhode Island, the workers whose labor kept the mines and factories producing toiled fourteen to sixteen hours a day in dangerous conditions for little money, with no workmen’s compensation or disability insurance if they were injured. The era has become known as the Gilded Age, dominated by so-called robber barons.

Today, the stock market dropped dramatically upon news that Trump intended to go through with his tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 650 points, down 1.48%. The S&P fell 1.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite, which focuses on technology stocks, fell 2.64%. Meanwhile, shares of European defense companies jumped to record highs as Europe moves to replace the U.S. support for Ukraine.

Also today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a dramatic contraction in the economy in the first quarter of 2025. Evaluating current data according to a mathematical model, it moved from an expected 2.9% growth in gross domestic product at the end of January to –2.8% today. That is just a prediction and there is still room for those numbers to turn around, but they might help to explain why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth.

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