JTOSU
Ranger
You need to read the article again. It was about adding a new tax. Not a tax cut.
Trump 47
- Thread starter PF5
- Start date
It's to offset tax cuts though. So you get a tax cut but to pay for it you get a new tax. Seems pointless to have the tax cut in the first place then.
Donald Trump Insults Himself: ‘Who Would Ever Sign A Thing Like This USMCA?’..He actually called it the "Best Agreement We've Ever Made" when he signed it in 2020 to replace NAFTA
President Donald Trump is outraged that Americans are footing an unfair financial burden, citing a 2020 trade deal called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that he signed.
The president claimed during a White House press conference Monday that the impacts of the USMCA will be alleviated with a 25% tariff on all Canadian and Mexican goods starting next week, and unwittingly criticized himself after rebuking America’s neighbors.
“I mean, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing?” Trump said Monday. “On just about anything, every aspect you can imagine, they took advantage.”
He continued, “I look at some of these agreements, I’d read them at night, and I’d say, ‘Who would ever sign a thing like this?’ So the tariffs will go forward, yes, and we’re gonna make up a lot of territory. All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity.”
Trump praised the USMCA in 2020 as the “best agreement we’ve ever made” and lauded it for replacing the “nightmare” North American Free Trade Agreement ratified under former President Bill Clinton, calling it the “worst trade deal ever made.”
He criticized NAFTA repeatedly during his 2016 presidential campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, blaming her at the time for her husband’s actions.
“It’s an improvement at the margins but far from perfect and not nearly as different as Trump claims,” said Jared Bernstein, the economic adviser to former President Joe Biden, in January 2020 of USMCA. “In fact, there will almost surely be no notable difference in trade flows.”
Trump made tariffs an integral part of his 2024 campaign and has taken strides, via executive orders, to get the ball rolling on implementing them on Canada, Mexico and China. Economists warn that these tariffs will have devastating effects on American consumers.
However, on Monday, Trump said his tariffs wouldn’t harm everyday Americans.
“It’ll be very good for our country,” he said. “Our country will be extremely liquid and rich again.”
Deputized private citizens. His own army of brown shirts
Leaked $25B Military Contractor Pitch Promises Trump 12 Million Deportations By Midterms: leveraging military bases, private aircraft, and deputized civilians to forcibly remove 12 million undocumented immigrants
A group of private military contractors have pitched President Donald Trump a $25 billion plan to expedite mass deportations — leveraging military bases, private aircraft, and deputized civilians to forcibly remove 12 million undocumented immigrants before the 2026 midterm elections.
The leaked 26-page proposal led by former Blackwater executives Erik Prince and Bill Mathews has been circulating among Trump allies since December and was obtained by Politico. It reportedly details an aggressive strategy that includes a network of “processing camps” on U.S. military installations, a private fleet of 100 aircraft, and a force of civilians given federal law enforcement powers to carry out arrests.
The document bluntly states that deporting 12 million people in two years “would require the government to eject nearly 500,000 illegal aliens per month,” an undertaking it acknowledges would be impossible without outside contractors.
While it’s unclear if Trump himself has even reviewed the bid, White House spokesperson Kush Desai downplayed the proposal’s significance in a statement to Politico, stating that the administration “remains aligned on and committed to a whole-of-government approach to securing our borders, mass deporting criminal illegal migrants, and enforcing our immigration laws.”
If put into action, the blueprint could face serious legal challenges for its reliance on deputized private citizens— many of whom would be veterans, retired law enforcement, and former ICE agents, Politico reports.
The proposal also suggests using a “bounty program” to incentivize local law enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants, despite existing legal barriers in many jurisdictions that prohibit such cooperation. John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE, dismissed the plan’s suggestion of mass hearings as legally dubious, warning that its measures would likely be blocked in court.
While requests for comment from Prince were not acknowledged, Mathews told Politico: “We have not been contacted by, nor have we had any discussions with, the government since the White Paper that we submitted months ago. There has been zero show of interest or engagement from the government and we have no reason to believe there will be.”
mugatu
Ranger
Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s data shows.
apnews.com
Large portion of canceled contracts were already filled/paid and provide no actual savings, just claims of savings.
Alcoa warns Trump's aluminum tariff could cost 100,000 US jobs
(Reuters) - Aluminum giant Alcoa said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose a tariff on aluminum imports could cost about 100,000 jobs across the United States.
"We view (tariffs) as bad for the U.S.," Bill Oplinger, CEO of the Pittsburgh-based company, told the BMO Global Metals & Mining Conference in Florida. Oplinger's remarks were webcast.
Trump allies circulate mass deportation plan calling for “processing camps” and a private citizen “army” put together by Blackwater Founder
Erik Prince’s 26-page document called for mass deportation hearings, “processing camps,” and a 10,000-strong private police force.
www.threads.net
Erik Prince’s 26-page document called for mass deportation hearings, “processing camps,” and a 10,000-strong private police force.
POLITICO (@politico) on Threads
Trump allies circulate mass deportation plan calling for “processing camps” and a private citizen “army”
www.threads.net
The FAA is awarding a new contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to help manage US airspace.
This is on top of the tens of billions of dollars in federal government contracts that Musk’s companies have already secured.
SpaceX engineers were brought to an FAA facility under the cover of receiving a tour—but some were shortly after onboarded as advisers to the agency.
www.threads.net
This is on top of the tens of billions of dollars in federal government contracts that Musk’s companies have already secured.
SpaceX engineers were brought to an FAA facility under the cover of receiving a tour—but some were shortly after onboarded as advisers to the agency.
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) on Threads
SpaceX engineers were brought to an FAA facility under the cover of receiving a tour—but some were shortly after onboarded as advisers to the agency.
www.threads.net
Mocking them while his OWN ADMIN is telling Federal Workers they can NOT be legally compelled to do this. Openly mocking them while violating the Law and their Rights.
Conservative Principle: The Rule of Law
Trump posts SpongeBob meme mocking federal workers after email requesting accomplishments
President Trump posted a “SpongeBob Squarepants” meme mocking federal employees in the wake of an email sent to the workforce asking them to document their achievements from the past week.
The meme the president posted on his Truth Social platform features the Nickelodeon show’s title character looking at a notepad with a heading that reads “Got Done Last Week.”
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mugatu
Ranger
21 federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE slash size of government
Twenty-one civil service employees have resigned from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they're refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
apnews.com
Trump admin IRS cuts 'don't add up, will lead to larger National Deficit per ' 7 former IRS commissioners who write in NY Times op-ed
Seven former commissioners of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have spoken out against what they call "aggressive" cuts to the agency’s workforce under President Donald Trump, saying the move at the tax-collecting agency could increase the nation’s deficit.In an op-ed for The New York Times, former commissioners Lawrence Gibbs, Fred Goldberg, Charles Rossotti, Mark Everson, John Koskinen, Charles Rettig and Daniel Werfel, wrote that "making drastic cuts to accounts receivable as a way to improve cost efficiency just doesn’t add up."
"Aggressive reductions in the I.R.S.’s resources will only render our government less effective and less efficient in collecting the taxes Congress has imposed," they wrote, arguing that the move will shift the burden from those who evade paying their taxes to "honest people who pay them."
Reports in recent weeks have said that 6,700 IRS workers, or 7% of the tax agency's roughly 95,000-person workforce, would be eliminated in the middle of tax season.
The layoffs will affect probationary workers who have been employed for one year or less and have not been able to secure full civil service protection, The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the plans.
The former IRS commissioners warned that the Trump administration's cuts at the agency could lead to a larger national deficit.
Pennsylvania state governor says $2.1B in federal funding restored after suing Trump admin
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday that $2.1 billion in federal funds had been unfrozen and restored to Pennsylvania, as Democratic governors rely on the courts to challenge President Donald Trump's executive actions.
Shapiro sued the Trump administration on Feb. 13, joining the initial 22 states and the District of Columbia with lawsuits challenging Trump's allegedly "illegal" federal funding freeze. Shapiro said legal action was necessary to restore Pennsylvania’s federal funding.
Shapiro, who was in Washington for the National Governors Association (NGA) last week, said he urged senior members of the Trump administration to unfreeze the federal funds.
"When I was at the White House on Friday, I again raised the issue of our frozen federal funding to President Trump's senior team and members of his Cabinet," Shapiro told reporters Monday. "I urged them to follow the law and to honor their agreements with Pennsylvania. As a result of that direct engagement last week, our funding is unfrozen. They are now following the law, and we will continue to press our case."
Shapiro said his directness earned Pennsylvania access to the funds "duly owed to us."
"I was very direct with them. They were very responsive to me. And as a result, Pennsylvania now has what is duly owed to us," Shapiro added.
The White House Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to halt federal funding on Jan. 27 in compliance with Trump's executive orders. Federal judges had issued a temporary restraining order to block the funding freeze ahead of Shapiro's lawsuit, but only states with litigation against the Trump administration were able to access the unfrozen funds.
"As a result of our lawsuit and our continued pressure and engagement with the Trump administration, in which we demanded that the administration comply with the legal injunctions currently in place, we made clear that we were ready to seek immediate relief from the courts. Every dollar that we identified at the filing of our lawsuit is currently unfrozen and, once again, accessible to all Pennsylvania state agencies," Shapiro said.
The $2.1 billion in federal funding restores what Shapiro described as "critical programs and infrastructure projects that have been jeopardized by this illegal freeze." Those programs include plugging abandoned wells, cleaning waterways, protecting farmers from runoff water, repairing mines and delivering clean water to Pennsylvanians, Shapiro said. He said several projects that were halted have been restored and dozens of federal employees are now back to work.
Shapiro said it is his responsibility as governor to take legal action against the federal government when necessary to deliver for Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday that $2.1 billion in federal funds had been unfrozen and restored to Pennsylvania, as Democratic governors rely on the courts to challenge President Donald Trump's executive actions.
Shapiro sued the Trump administration on Feb. 13, joining the initial 22 states and the District of Columbia with lawsuits challenging Trump's allegedly "illegal" federal funding freeze. Shapiro said legal action was necessary to restore Pennsylvania’s federal funding.
Shapiro, who was in Washington for the National Governors Association (NGA) last week, said he urged senior members of the Trump administration to unfreeze the federal funds.
"When I was at the White House on Friday, I again raised the issue of our frozen federal funding to President Trump's senior team and members of his Cabinet," Shapiro told reporters Monday. "I urged them to follow the law and to honor their agreements with Pennsylvania. As a result of that direct engagement last week, our funding is unfrozen. They are now following the law, and we will continue to press our case."
Shapiro said his directness earned Pennsylvania access to the funds "duly owed to us."
"I was very direct with them. They were very responsive to me. And as a result, Pennsylvania now has what is duly owed to us," Shapiro added.
The White House Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to halt federal funding on Jan. 27 in compliance with Trump's executive orders. Federal judges had issued a temporary restraining order to block the funding freeze ahead of Shapiro's lawsuit, but only states with litigation against the Trump administration were able to access the unfrozen funds.
"As a result of our lawsuit and our continued pressure and engagement with the Trump administration, in which we demanded that the administration comply with the legal injunctions currently in place, we made clear that we were ready to seek immediate relief from the courts. Every dollar that we identified at the filing of our lawsuit is currently unfrozen and, once again, accessible to all Pennsylvania state agencies," Shapiro said.
The $2.1 billion in federal funding restores what Shapiro described as "critical programs and infrastructure projects that have been jeopardized by this illegal freeze." Those programs include plugging abandoned wells, cleaning waterways, protecting farmers from runoff water, repairing mines and delivering clean water to Pennsylvanians, Shapiro said. He said several projects that were halted have been restored and dozens of federal employees are now back to work.
Shapiro said it is his responsibility as governor to take legal action against the federal government when necessary to deliver for Pennsylvania.
Trump adviser pushes removing Canada from Intelligence Sharing as new punishment against Canada:
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro is reportedly pushing for an unprecedented maneuver that would upend decades' worth of American national security policy.
The Financial Times reports that Navarro has recently floated kicking Canada out of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing program that also includes the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Removing Canada from Five Eyes would mark a dramatic escalation in the current feud between the United States and Canada and would likely permanently damage relations between the two nations for years to come.
Formed during the Cold War, the alliance facilitates the exchange of sensitive intelligence and security information among its member countries to enhance national security and counter global threats.
It is unclear how Navarro would succeed in this measure given that the other nations who participate in the program would surely object.
Shashank Joshi, The Economist's defense editor, writes on X that the Financial Times' reporting backs up other things he'd heard about Navarro's intentions.
He also expresses incredulity would go this far to damage their longtime ally's national security.
"The fact that anyone in the Trump administration is making these shameful and wild threats to unravel Five Eyes is a sign of how impulsive, reckless and unreliable these people are," he remarks. "They see everything as as a tool of coercion, with no understanding of interdependence."
PF5
Sheriff
21 DOGE staffers resign, saying they won't help 'dismantle' public services NPR
Twenty-one members of the United States DOGE Service (formerly the U.S. Digital Service) have resigned, citing DOGE's ongoing work dramatically reshaping the federal government.
"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions," the anonymous staffers write in a letter posted publicly, and first reported by The Associated Press.
The staffers who resigned appear to have started with USDS before the Trump administration.
"As civil servants, we remained committed throughout the Presidential Transition to delivering better government services through technology and stood ready to partner with incoming officials," they write. "Each of us left senior private sector technology positions to pursue nonpartisan public service. We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments at the United States DOGE Service."
According to the letter, which is dated Tuesday and addressed to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the resignations follow numbers of people being let go from USDS earlier this month.
The DOGE effort is overseen by billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk.
Twenty-one members of the United States DOGE Service (formerly the U.S. Digital Service) have resigned, citing DOGE's ongoing work dramatically reshaping the federal government.
"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions," the anonymous staffers write in a letter posted publicly, and first reported by The Associated Press.
The staffers who resigned appear to have started with USDS before the Trump administration.
"As civil servants, we remained committed throughout the Presidential Transition to delivering better government services through technology and stood ready to partner with incoming officials," they write. "Each of us left senior private sector technology positions to pursue nonpartisan public service. We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments at the United States DOGE Service."
According to the letter, which is dated Tuesday and addressed to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the resignations follow numbers of people being let go from USDS earlier this month.
The DOGE effort is overseen by billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk.
Live updates: 21 employees resign from DOGE, refusing to 'dismantle critical public services'
More than 20 civil service employees resigned from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they refused to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
apnews.com
This is pretty telling about how DOGE is actually going and more importantly, what they are looking to accomplish and how to accomplish it.
REPORTER: Migrants at Guantanamo say they were rarely let outside, they were shackled and placed in what they described at cages and alleged they were not treated as human beings. Does the White House have any response to those conditions?
LEAVITT: It’s a promise the president campaigned on
www.threads.net
LEAVITT: It’s a promise the president campaigned on
Aaron Rupar (@aaron.rupar) on Threads
REPORTER: Migrants at Guantanamo say they were rarely let outside, they were shackled and placed in what they described at cages and alleged they were not treated as human beings. Does the White House have any response to those conditions? LEAVITT: It’s a promise the president campaigned on
www.threads.net
GOP Rep. McClain attacks American voters for “hijacking” Republican town halls to share their “sob stories” about how Trump’s policies are hurting them: “Give me a break”
www.threads.net
FactPost (@factpostnews) on Threads
GOP Rep. McClain attacks American voters for “hijacking” Republican town halls to share their “sob stories” about how Trump’s policies are hurting them: “Give me a break”
www.threads.net
Alina Habba: This is what we're about. We're running this county like President Trump runs the Trump Organization. Like Elon Musk running X. That's what we're doing.
www.threads.net
Aaron Rupar (@aaron.rupar) on Threads
Alina Habba: This is what we're about. We're running this county like President Trump runs the Trump Organization. Like Elon Musk running X. That's what we're doing.
www.threads.net
BREAKING: A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to pay millions of dollars to multiple nonprofit groups after determining the administration violated the terms of a temporary restraining order regarding freezing foreign aid. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fed...ation-pay-millions-foreign/story?id=119173659
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