I used to struggle to write a 500-word blog post. Now I struggle to keep them under 2,000 words. As long as Donald Trump is in the White House, I will not run out of material. Of course, I might be shut down before then. Nothing is guaranteed or taken for granted anymore.
You put a crooked New York City businessman in the White House, and this is what you get. I would like to think the voters have learned a lesson.
Pay to play
I don’t claim to understand crypto currency. Investing in it is not on my radar. It seems to be the newest, shiniest object to grab Donald Trump’s attention. If there is a way to make a buck, he will try it.
Making a profit is the only thing he understands. That’s why he is so bad at running the federal government. Government is not designed to turn a profit. Therefore, Trump sees it as something unnecessary. Something to be torn apart. Trashed. But I digress.
The business side of Donald Trump – which no one would ever confuse with the public Donald Trump – found a way to cash in on the crypto currency industry. It is a way for him to receive millions of dollars from rich Americans and even richer foreigners.
Trump has again pushed the limits. No other president in our history would have considered doing anything like that.
He hosted a dinner for his investors at his golf club just outside Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quick to defend the entire thing. She explained that it was all on the up-and-up because he did it at night “on his own time,” and the dinner was not held at the White House.
When one is a government employee at a high level or in any position of respect, they are still representing the position they hold even “on their own time.” If you don’t believe it, just ask any public school teacher.
Government employees are not free to break the law “on their own time.” Those in positions of authority are never really “off the clock.” Again, just ask any public school teacher.
Ms. Leavitt also emphasized that the dinner attendees, who had paid an average of $1.7 millions did not expect anything in return except a dinner.
Yeah, right, Karoline.
When Jake Tapper of CNN asked US Speaker of the House Mike Johnston, about it, he said he didn’t know anything about the dinner. He went on to indicate that he was too busy last week to know about it. Keep in mind that if something isn’t important to the Speaker of the House, it doesn’t get brought up on the floor of the House Chamber.
Nothing to see here.
Harvard University, again/still
On Tuesday, Trump cancelled all government contracts with Harvard University totaling around $100 million. Those contracts include medical and agricultural research. President Emeritus of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasury, Larry Summers, called it “extortion” in an interview on CNN. Mr. Summers said, “If Harvard can’t resist these steps toward tyranny, who can?”
Yesterday it was revealed that Trump wants to limit Harvard to having no more than 15% of its students from other countries. In the 2024-2025 school year, 27% of the student body were international students.
A bill of attainder is a legislative act that declares a person or group guilty of a crime and it goes on to provide for punishment, often without a trial. The US Constitution probits bills or acts of attainder. I’m no expert on Constitutional Law, but it seems like President Trump is crossing a line as he targets Harvard University.
Nuclear Energy
Trump signed four Executive Orders on Friday easing regulations on the nuclear power industry. As reported by NBC News, “The executive orders aim to reform nuclear energy research at the Department of Energy, clear a path to allow the Energy Department to build nuclear reactors on federally-owned land, overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and expand uranium mining and enrichment in the U.S.”
I cringe to think about which federally-owned lands he will put nuclear power plants on and which national parks and national monuments will be decimated by uranium mining.
The regulations were put in place for a reason, but Trump cannot be bothered with evidence or regulations. The safety of the public is the least of his concerns.
50% Tariffs on the European Union
On Friday, May 23, Trump announced that 50% tariffs would begin on Sunday, June 1 on all goods coming into the US from countries in the European Union.
Oh, wait! That was last Friday. On Sunday, May 25, Trump announced that 50% tariffs on the European Union will begin on July 9.
It’s just Thursday, May 29. He will probably change his mind many more times before July 9.
When Democrats change their minds, Republicans call it “flip-flopping.” When Trump does it, they don’t call it anything.
Or maybe this is all a moot point. As I was preparing to schedule this post last night, the three-person United States Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump cannot use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. That law requires a “national emergency” for tariffs to be imposed, so Trump declared a series of “national emergencies” that did not exist.
The ruling last night gets to the question of whether the US President has the authority under the IEEPA to impose “unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.”
Of course, the Trump Administration will appeal the ruling. He never passes up an opportunity to appeal a court ruling.
Here we go!
Deal with Nippon Steel
When asked to talk about the new deal between US Steel and Nippon Steel on Sunday, President Trump called Nippon Steel “Nissan” three times in forty seconds.
This was a deal that President Joe Biden blocked late in his term in office due to national security concerns. Trump used to be against it, but now he’s all for it.
Is Trump “flip-flopping,” or is this nothing?
The EPA needs a new name
Calling the EPA the Environmental Protection Agency is now a farce. On Saturday, May 24, Reuters reported the following: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing internal agency documents.
“The EPA argued in its proposed regulation that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions, according to the NYT report.
“The EPA also said that eliminating those emissions would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare, the report added.
“According to the United Nations, fossil fuels are by far the largest contributors to global warming, accounting for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.
“The EPA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the details of the NYT report.
“The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has moved quickly to remove all federal spending related to efforts to combat climate change and to eliminate any regulation aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions as part of its effort to bolster oil, gas and mining operations.
“On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which may end numerous green-energy subsidies that have supported the renewable energy sector.”
The draft of the EPA’s plan reportedly went to the White House on May 2. The President has not acted on it specifically yet. The New York Times report indicated that there will be an opportunity for public comment probably in June. I’ll believe that when I see it.
The public hasn’t been given a time to comment on anything since January 20.
Perhaps the EPA can be renamed the Environment Attack Agency (EAA) or the Attack the Environment Agency (ATEA).
How about a new Trump battle cry? MACA! Make America Choke Again!
National Security Council
On Friday, May 23, it was announced that the Trump Administration was cutting the staff of the Office of the National Security Council by half with those employees putting placed on administrative leave.
These were the people who monitored events and trends around the world so the US President could be kept up-to-date daily on the things a person in that position should know about. Since Trump rarely reads his daily briefings, I guess he decided the support staff of the National Security Council was a waste of taxpayer money.
ICE instructed to triple arrests
It was reported by CNN yesterday that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are demanding 3,000 arrests per day by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Considering ICE has already made a number of false arrests, we can now expect that number to triple.
Ximena Arias Cristobal, a 19-year-old college student of Dalton, Georgia, has finally been released after being mistakenly arrested for a traffic violation made by another driver in a car similar to hers. She was detained by ICE for two weeks.
She was brought into the United States by her parents when she was four years old. She said in an interview on CNN that the family has tried repeatedly through various lawyers for 15 years to become American citizens, but every door has been closed to them. If deported to Mexico, she will be sent to a place she is not familiar with and it will be difficult for her to continue her college studies in Spanish.
Should ICE set up a staging area in a church parking lot?
On May 20, ICE set up a staged an operation in the parking lot of Central United Methodist church in Charlotte as preschool children were being picked up by their parents and grandparents. The church had not approved the intrusion.
This activity by ICE has been condemned by local faith leaders and state legislators. Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches said, “The places where people come to worship, pray, study, and live out the tenets of their faith should be unavailable for this kind of posture.”
Central United Methodist Church offers Bible studies in Spanish and the church’s preschool is bilingual.
An uplifting commencement address by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
In my blog post on Tuesday, one of my topics was President Trump’s commencement “speech” at West Point. If you missed my post or didn’t otherwise hear about it, please read my Tuesday post:
In contrast to Trump’s speech at West Point, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at Sunday’s commencement at Princeton University. His audience apparently got a more appropriate speech that the cadets at the US Military Academy.
Reports say that Mr. Powell told the Princeton Class of 2025 that universities in the United States are “the envy of the world and a crucial national asset.” He called on them to preserve democracy and not to take universities in the United States for granted.
Fortune reported online: “I strongly urge you to find time in your careers for public service,” Powell said. “Since the founding of this great democracy 250 years ago, generation upon generation have assumed the burden and the honor of moving us closer to the ideal that all are created equal. Now it’s your turn.”
President Trump has long been critical of Mr. Powell.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 